Iran Turns to Bitcoin and USDT for Trade as U.S. Sanctions Tighten

Iranian businesses are increasingly using Bitcoin and Tether’s USDT to settle cross-border trade as the country loosens foreign-exchange controls and seeks alternative payment routes outside the global banking system.

The Central Bank of Iran has quietly allowed exporters to receive cryptocurrency payments and settle transactions through domestic crypto exchanges, according to Iranian businesses, regime insiders and industry participants interviewed by the Financial Times. The central bank has not publicly formalized the change and declined to comment on the policy.

Exporters Gain More Flexibility on Crypto Settlement

Iran previously required exporters to repatriate much of their foreign-currency earnings and sell them through government-controlled channels at official exchange rates. The relaxed approach allows companies to use export proceeds more directly for imports and gives some businesses greater freedom over how overseas earnings return to Iran.

USDT provides a dollar-denominated settlement asset without requiring direct access to U.S. banks, while Bitcoin offers another route for moving value across borders. Domestic exchanges form part of that infrastructure, although their use creates substantial sanctions exposure outside Iran.

OFAC treats Iranian digital-asset exchanges as blocked Iranian financial institutions. The U.S. expanded that pressure on August 24 by formally adding Iran’s digital-asset sector to industries that can trigger sanctions under Executive Order 13902.

Iran Crypto Volume Reached $9.9B in 2025

Iran recorded approximately $9.9 billion in attributed cryptocurrency volume during 2025. Four major domestic exchanges, Nobitex, Bit Pin, Wallex and Ramzinex, accounted for roughly $7.7 billion, or 78% of that activity.

Washington designated Nobitex and three other Iranian exchanges in June, followed by additional crypto-platform sanctions in August. Crypto flows between Iranian platforms and offshore venues have already produced compliance disputes, including more than $3.84 billion in Iran-linked flows involving CoinEx over several years.

USDT has played a particularly large role. Wallets later attributed to Iran’s central bank were connected to a $344 million freeze executed by Tether in coordination with OFAC and U.S. law enforcement earlier this year.

Tether Controls Limit USDT’s Sanctions-Evasion Utility

USDT can move globally across public blockchains, but Tether retains the ability to blacklist individual addresses and immobilize their tokens. The issuer had frozen more than $4.4 billion connected to illicit activity by April 2026 through cooperation with more than 340 law-enforcement agencies.

That control remains active at scale. Tether this week froze another $39.3 million across 10 Tron wallets linked by MistTrack to sanctioned Telegram marketplace Xinbi Guarantee.

Iran’s expanding use of crypto therefore runs directly into a tightening U.S. enforcement perimeter. OFAC’s August 24 determination now explicitly includes Iran’s digital-asset sector, giving Washington authority to target persons operating within it as Tehran increases its use of Bitcoin, USDT and domestic exchanges for cross-border settlement.

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