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Iran uses bitcoin via crypto exchanges to skirt sanctions, reports say

Financial Times cited conversations indicating Iran’s central bank has quietly encouraged traders, even as the US previously froze crypto tied to the Iranian regime.

Reported · Written up by our desk · Regulation

Iran has continued using bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to settle cross-border transactions through Iranian crypto exchanges as a way to work around sanctions, according to reporting cited by Bitcoin Magazine. The story points to the Financial Times, which said the central bank has “quietly encouraged traders” to help keep money flowing despite economic stress.

The report described conversations with business and regime insiders, saying the central bank does not question how transferred funds are moved. It also said cryptocurrencies are being used after the central bank advised its countrymen to do anything necessary to support the economy.

Bitcoin Magazine also links the strategy to Iran’s broader sanctions and conflict backdrop. It cites a US freeze of crypto linked to the Iranian regime in July, mostly in the form of Tether’s stablecoin, and notes that OFAC said Iran had been dodging sanctions by accepting payment in bitcoin from ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

The article further says Iran started a bitcoin-backed insurance service earlier this year for shipping companies serving county shipments. It also references OFAC guidance that an Iran-developed platform, Hormuz Safe, accepts payment in bitcoin and other digital assets to bypass sanctions, according to the piece.

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