Most of the purchased stablecoins were bought by the Bank of Iran last spring. Due to international sanctions, digital assets have become the only alternative to cross-border bank transfers for the local economy, analysts explained.
Earlier, the Central Bank of Iran directed the purchased stablecoins to the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the country, Nobitex, for exchange and sale for the local currency (rial). After the hacker attack on Nobitex in June 2025, the regulator changed its strategy and began using decentralized platforms, conducting asset conversions and moving them between Ethereum and Tron networks, specialists from Elliptic reported.
Using USDT stablecoins as an analogue to offshore accounts, the Iranian regulator is trying to create a parallel financial infrastructure beyond the reach of U.S. authorities, aiming to keep the economy from collapsing, experts from Elliptic concluded.
Earlier, specialists from Chainalysis reported that the use of cryptocurrency in Iran has sharply increased due to mass protests. Iranians have been increasingly buying bitcoins in an attempt to preserve their savings amid economic instability.
