Has Iran turned to crypto to beat sanctions? IRGC moved billions since 2023, US probes

As Iran endures one other 12 months of punishing US sanctions, mounting geopolitical pressure and a weakening foreign money, American investigators are turning their consideration to a brand new monetary frontier—cryptocurrency.

US Treasury officers are analyzing whether or not sure crypto platforms facilitated sanctions evasion by Iranian officers and state-linked entities, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing blockchain analytics agency TRM Labs.

On the centre of the probe is rising concern in Washington that digital asset networks might have supplied Tehran—notably the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)—a partial workaround to the dollar-dominated world monetary system from which it has lengthy been excluded.

$3 billion moved, 5,000 IRGC-linked wallets flagged

Blockchain intelligence corporations say the dimensions of exercise is critical.

Chainalysis estimates that roughly 50 per cent of Iran’s crypto transaction volumes final 12 months had been linked to the IRGC. TRM Labs, whereas noting that about 95 per cent of Iran-linked crypto exercise originates from retail buyers, says it has recognized greater than 5,000 pockets addresses related to the Guards.

In keeping with Reuters, TRM estimates the IRGC has moved roughly $3 billion in crypto since 2023.

In a January 9 report, TRM mentioned two UK-incorporated exchanges—Zedcex and Zedxion—processed round $1 billion in crypto tied to the IRGC since 2023.

The report traced company hyperlinks to Babak Zanjani, a beforehand sanctioned Iranian financier accused of facilitating oil income transfers for regime-linked entities. TRM additionally mentioned wallets related to the exchanges transferred greater than $10 million in USDT to a US-designated Houthi financier—suggesting crypto infrastructure might have been used for operational funding, not merely sanctions circumvention.

Iran’s crypto volumes surge to $8–10 billion

Iran’s broader crypto footprint has expanded sharply lately.

In a separate report dated January 28, TRM mentioned transaction volumes linked to Iran reached roughly $10 billion final 12 months. Chainalysis reported that Iranian wallets obtained a document $7.8 billion in 2025, up from simply over $3 billion in 2023.

Whereas substantial, these figures stay modest in comparison with Iran’s oil revenues, which the US Vitality Data Administration estimated at $53 billion in 2023.

TRM’s 2026 Crypto Crime Report argues that nations beneath sanctions, together with Iran and Venezuela, are more and more leaning on cryptocurrency as “sturdy monetary infrastructure” for cross-border funds.

Globally, illicit crypto volumes rose to $158 billion in 2025, although that represented simply 1.2 per cent of whole on-chain exercise—indicating that state-linked flows are intertwined with broader market participation relatively than working in isolation.

Stablecoins and the sanctions playbook

For Tehran, crypto’s attraction lies in its skill to bypass correspondent banks, SWIFT messaging programs and Western-controlled clearing networks.

British blockchain analytics agency Elliptic has reported that the Central Financial institution of Iran acquired at the very least $507 million value of the stablecoin USDT in 2025, calling it a “subtle technique to bypass the worldwide banking system.”

Stablecoins—digital tokens pegged to fiat currencies such because the US greenback— mix value stability with the borderless mobility of blockchain-based property, making them notably engaging in sanctions-constrained environments.

Tether, the issuer of USDT, has mentioned it maintains a zero-tolerance coverage towards legal use and works with regulation enforcement companies to freeze illicit property, Reuters reported.

The IRGC, already designated beneath US terrorism and sanctions regimes, has lengthy been accused of working shadow-banking and front-company networks to maneuver funds and maintain regional proxy operations. Blockchain researchers recommend crypto might now signify a further layer in that ecosystem.

Retail rush as rial weakens

But Iran’s crypto story shouldn’t be solely about state actors.

Extraordinary Iranians, battered by inflation and the regular depreciation of the rial, have more and more turned to digital property as a retailer of worth. Nobitex, the most important of Iran’s crypto exchanges, advised Reuters that about 15 million folks in Iran had some publicity or used crypto property, primarily based on trade estimates.

In keeping with the report, Nobitex, the nation’s largest trade, has round 11 million customers, with most exercise pushed by retail members.

“For a lot of customers, crypto primarily capabilities as a retailer of worth in response to the continued depreciation of the native foreign money,” Nobitex advised Reuters.

Blockchain information signifies that crypto exercise typically spikes in periods of social unrest or geopolitical escalation, as residents search to protect financial savings or discreetly transfer capital overseas.

In keeping with Reuters report, researchers at Singapore-based Nansen have noticed Iranian customers transferring funds from home exchanges to worldwide platforms or self-custodied wallets, notably throughout episodes of instability or cyberattacks—together with a high-profile hack of Nobitex final 12 months.

Sanctions enforcement meets decentralised finance

For Washington, the probe into Iran’s crypto ecosystem underscores a broader geopolitical shift: sanctions enforcement is more and more colliding with decentralised monetary know-how.

Crypto’s structure—borderless, programmable and pseudonymous—doesn’t eradicate the attain of US enforcement, but it surely complicates it. Superior blockchain analytics allow authorities to hint transactions, but the benefit of pockets creation and jurisdictional fragmentation make enforcement largely reactive.

The problem shouldn’t be confined to Iran. TRM notes that sanctions-related crypto exercise in 2025 was closely pushed by Russia-linked flows, together with via a ruble-pegged stablecoin that processed tens of billions of {dollars}.