Iran’s crypto is seeing a spike amid growing political unrest and protests over high inflation and a failing economy.
A Chainalysis report published on Thursday claimed that the Iranian cryptocurrency market soared to $7.78 billion in 2025, owing to the conflict and turbulence amid the ongoing protests and political turmoil.
The on-chain intelligence firm noted a spike in larger transfers on a daily basis, showing how digital assets are increasingly being used as a financial lifeboat during times of crisis.
Protests that began around December 28, 2025 were sparked by worsening economic conditions, especially after the Iranian rial fell to record lows against the U.S. dollar. At the time of writing $1 is equals to IRR 1,065,000.
From the commencement of the protests till January 8, the overall volume of digital asset transactions saw a steady rise as political tensions plagued the nation.
The escalation in protest demonstrations led the government to shut down the internet, arresting protesters on a massive scale, while also reporting thousands of deaths. Exact numbers of the lives lost in the ongoing unrest remains unclear for now.
Iranians are slowly warming up to the idea of investing in Bitcoin and other forms of cryptocurrencies, hoping to retain independent control of their finances during the current political climate.
BTC in private wallets becomes safe haven
Many Iranians have moved their cryptos from the exchanges into personal wallets, thereby finding control over the funds in the middle of the ongoing chaos.
The Chainalysis report further claimed that private wallet withdrawals have skyrocketed in Iran, indicating that people are turning to Bitcoin as an attempt to safeguard their funds due to the instability. The asset’s limited supply of merely 21 million tokens is boosting its viability as a valuable hedge against inflated, deflated fiat currencies.
Through owning cryptocurrency, Iranians are expecting to secure their wealth in case fiat faces further limitations.
The collapse of the Rial
The main trigger among the Iranian citizens to pivot towards Bitcoin is the crash of the nation’s currency.
The value of the Rial has dramatically dropped from 42 to over 1,050 per USD, erasing any savings and faith in the local currency.
Bitcoin provides a mechanism for preserving funds in case traditional fiat money becomes worthless because of its decentralized system and fixed supply. Because BTC can facilitate instant cross-border transactions without the need of an intermediary, it has often emerged as a favoured financial tool in regions of distress like Ukraine.
Government going bullish on crypto
It is interesting to note that out of the total crypto transactions that have been recorded, Iran’s government body has accounted for most of them.
Addresses associated with the independent military and security agency — the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) — have progressively increased as a percentage of Iran’s total crypto activity. The initiations from the agency account for over half of all crypto value received in the fourth quarter of 2025.
“Notably, it is not just ordinary Iranians who have turned to crypto—the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has extensively leveraged digital assets to finance its malign activities both domestically and through its network of proxy networks across the Middle East.” per Chainalysis.
The IRGC addresses processed more than $2 billion on-chain, bringing the total to $3 billion in 2025. The data firm, however, believes that the total number is likely underestimated because its data is derived only from wallets sanctioned by the United States and Israel.