The TRM Labs report showed that cryptocurrency flows in Iran decreased by 11% from January to July 2025, falling to $3.7 billion. The main reasons were the armed conflict with Israel, mass power outages, and the hacking of the largest Iranian exchange Nobitex for $90 million, organized by the Predatory Sparrow group.
The loss of liquidity and growing distrust in local services forced users to transfer funds to foreign platforms with low KYC controls.
The situation was exacerbated by Tether's decision to block 42 addresses related to Iran, which caused a mass transition of users from USDT to DAI on Polygon. Despite the decline in volumes, cryptocurrency remains an important tool for Iranians in combating inflation and sanctions, and authorities continue to use it to purchase technology from Chinese suppliers and finance political operations.
