Crypto Exchange Restrictions for Iranian Citizens in 2025: What’s Blocked and How People Adapt

For Iranian citizens, using cryptocurrency isn’t about speculation anymore-it’s about survival. In 2025, the government has turned crypto from a tool of financial freedom into a tightly controlled, high-risk activity. While mining is still legal, buying, selling, or even holding digital assets has become a legal gray zone filled with sudden blackouts, frozen wallets, and strict time limits. If you’re an Iranian user trying to access crypto today, you’re not fighting against technology-you’re fighting against a state that wants to own every digital transaction.

Payment Gateways Shut Down, But Mining Still Allowed

In January 2025, the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) pulled the plug on all rial payment channels for cryptocurrency exchanges. That meant no more bank transfers, no more digital wallets linked to local banks, no way to buy Bitcoin or Ethereum with Iranian rials through official channels. The move wasn’t about stopping crypto-it was about stopping uncontrolled crypto. The government estimated that exchanges had processed billions in transactions over the past two years without paying a single rial in taxes. Operators were operating in the shadows, and the state wanted them in the light-or out of the game entirely.

Here’s the twist: cryptocurrency mining is still legal. Iran has one of the largest mining operations in the world, thanks to cheap electricity. The government doesn’t care if you’re using your home computer to mine Bitcoin. What they care about is what you do with it after. If you try to convert that mined Bitcoin into cash, pay for imports, or send it abroad, you’re now breaking the law.

The Nobitex Hack That Changed Everything

On June 18, 2025, Nobitex-Iran’s biggest crypto exchange with over 11 million users-was hacked. Attackers drained more than $90 million in assets. The breach wasn’t just a technical failure; it was a political earthquake. Within hours, the CBI responded with a radical new rule: all domestic exchanges must shut down between 8:00 PM and 10:00 AM local time.

These hours weren’t chosen randomly. They were designed to make trading nearly impossible for average users. Most Iranians work 9-to-5 jobs. By the time they get home, the market is already closed. The few who can trade during the 10 AM to 8 PM window face overcrowded platforms, slow confirmations, and massive price swings. The result? Trading volume dropped by 40% in the weeks after the restriction.

Tether (USDT), the stablecoin Iranians relied on to protect their savings from inflation, spiked to over 12,000 Toman on local exchanges-up from 10,500 just days before. People panicked. They knew the government was watching, and they feared more freezes were coming.

Tether Freezes $90 Million in Iranian Wallets

On July 2, 2025, Tether-the company behind USDT-froze 42 cryptocurrency addresses linked to Nobitex. This wasn’t a random action. The frozen wallets showed clear transaction trails connecting to addresses previously flagged by Israeli counter-terrorism agencies as tied to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Tether didn’t accuse ordinary users. They targeted wallets with patterns of large, irregular transfers, often moving funds through multiple layers to obscure origins.

For everyday Iranians, this was devastating. Many had stored their life savings in USDT because it was stable, fast, and widely accepted. Overnight, thousands lost access to funds they’d used to pay rent, buy medicine, or send money to family abroad. Some had deposited their money through third-party OTC traders who claimed to be “safe.” Now those traders vanished. The message was clear: if you’re using crypto in Iran, you’re not just at risk from hackers-you’re at risk from global financial enforcers.

Iran’s First Crypto Tax Law: Pay Up or Get Caught

In August 2025, Iran passed its first-ever law taxing cryptocurrency profits. The Law on Taxation of Speculation and Profiteering treated crypto gains the same way it treats gold, real estate, or forex trading. If you made a profit selling Bitcoin or swapping USDT for Ethereum, you now owe taxes. The tax rate? 15% on net gains, with penalties for underreporting.

The government didn’t just want money-they wanted visibility. Before this law, crypto trades were invisible to tax authorities. Now, exchanges are required to report user transactions to the Iranian Tax Organization. If you’re trading on an unlicensed platform, you’re not just breaking financial rules-you’re risking criminal charges.

The law’s rollout was slow and uneven. The first phase targeted only licensed exchanges. The second phase, expected in early 2026, will require wallet providers to integrate reporting tools. This means even if you hold crypto in a personal wallet, you’ll soon be forced to declare your holdings-or risk audits, fines, or worse.

U.S. Sanctions Hit Iran’s Crypto Shadow Network

The U.S. didn’t sit back while Iran tightened its own rules. In September 2025, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned a $600 million shadow banking network linked to Iran’s military. The network used crypto to launder over $100 million in oil profits through front companies in Turkey, the UAE, and Malaysia.

The key player? Arash Estaki Alivand, a financial facilitator whose Ethereum and Tron wallets were directly tied to the scheme. OFAC froze 89 addresses linked to him. Many of these wallets had previously interacted with Iranian exchanges like Nobitex and Binance Iran.

This move didn’t just hurt state actors-it hurt ordinary users. Binance, which had quietly allowed Iranian users to trade through peer-to-peer (P2P) channels, suddenly pulled out of Iran entirely. Other platforms followed. The result? Iranian users lost access to the last reliable global gateways. P2P trading became riskier than ever. Buyers and sellers now fear being flagged by automated compliance systems that scan for Iranian IP addresses or transaction patterns.

How Iranians Are Adapting-And Surviving

Despite all this, crypto hasn’t disappeared in Iran. It’s just gone underground-and gotten smarter.

After the Tether freezes, crypto influencers and community leaders started pushing DAI, a decentralized stablecoin built on the Polygon network. Unlike USDT, DAI isn’t controlled by a single company. You can’t freeze it with a government order. You can’t shut it down with a bank directive. You can only lose it if you lose your private keys.

Many users now swap USDT for DAI on decentralized exchanges like SushiSwap or QuickSwap, using burner wallets and VPNs to hide their location. They trade via Telegram groups, using cash deposits or gift cards as intermediaries. Some even use crypto ATMs in neighboring countries, crossing borders with flash drives containing their keys.

The trading window-10 AM to 8 PM-is now treated like a stock market session. People set alarms. They coordinate with friends. They pool funds to buy in bulk during peak hours. The community has become a self-organized survival network.

The Bigger Picture: Control vs. Necessity

Iran’s crypto restrictions aren’t about banning technology. They’re about control. The government doesn’t want its people using crypto to bypass sanctions. But it also doesn’t want to lose the billions flowing through mining and trading. So it walks a tightrope: let the state use crypto for international deals, but lock civilians out.

This creates a dangerous contradiction. On one hand, Iranians face inflation rates above 50%. Their savings evaporate in months. On the other hand, the state tells them: you can’t use crypto to protect yourself.

Experts from Elliptic and TRM Labs say crypto inflows to Iran dropped 11% in the first half of 2025. But they also note that demand hasn’t fallen-it’s just become more hidden. The tools are changing. The players are changing. But the need? It’s stronger than ever.

What’s Next for Iranian Crypto Users?

The next 12 months will be critical. If Iran tightens reporting rules further, even decentralized wallets may be forced to comply with government monitoring. If international sanctions grow harsher, more stablecoins could be frozen. If the economy collapses further, more people will risk jail to access crypto.

For now, the only certainty is this: crypto in Iran isn’t a luxury. It’s a lifeline. And the state knows it. That’s why every restriction, every freeze, every curfew is designed not to stop crypto-but to make it so hard to use that only the desperate, the skilled, or the state-backed can still access it.

The game has changed. The rules are written by Tehran. But the people? They’re rewriting them every day-with a wallet, a VPN, and a stubborn refusal to give up.