Iran’s demand that oil tankers pay transit tolls in cryptocurrency for passing through the Strait of Hormuz has cast a new light on the country’s $7.8 billion crypto economy and the role digital currencies play for regimes operating outside the mainstream financial system…The situation in Iran echoes that of Venezuela, where the stablecoin tether serves as both a tool for the state-run oil industry to circumvent sanctions and a lifeline for everyday people struggling against a devaluing currency, the bolivar.

The paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has been among the most active users on Iran’s cryptocurrency market, often straining the country’s scarce electricity resources to mine bitcoin…Bitcoin isn’t the only cryptocurrency used by the Iranian regime. The Central Bank of Iran has acquired at least $507 million of tether—the world’s largest stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar—in an apparent bid to prop up the domestic currency and settle international tradet.

In the months leading up to the war, Iranians had increasingly migrated their bitcoin holdings from local crypto exchanges to their personal wallets, fearing state-imposed internet blackouts and financial seizures during domestic protests. And two days after the February 2026 airstrikes, total exchange outflows had reached about 10.3 million.. A 700% surge in outflows from Nobitex, Iran’s largest crypto exchange, within minutes of the initial U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran. The exodus suggests that the people were withdrawing their funds and sending them to overseas crypto exchanges that typically draw tokens from Iranian accounts during moments of instability…. With more than 11 million users, Nobitex is the primary gateway for Iranian citizens to swap rials for tether, which they can convert into other currencies abroad. Last year, a pro-Israel hacking group called “Predatory Sparrow” drained more than $90 million from Nobitex. U.S. regulators have targeted Iran’s digital infrastructure before. In January 2026, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned two U.K.-registered crypto exchanges, Zedcex and Zedxion, for facilitating approximately $1 billion in transactions linked to the IRGC, according to TRM Labs.

Excerpt from Vicky Ge Huang, Iran’s $7.8 Billion Crypto Economy Finds New Way to Grow After Cease-Fire, WSJ, Apr. 9, 2026