Iranians move crypto funds off crypto exchanges
At the start of the USA-Israeli attacks on Iran, Chainalysis reported that Iranian crypto worth $2 million were pulled out of crypto exchanges while Elliptic pointed out that $2.89 million were pulled out of Iran’s biggest crypto exchange Nobitex.
The funds were moved on Saturday when the attacks first started and were considered as an eightfold increase compared with those pulled out a day before. Overall, crypto worth $10.3 million left Iranian crypto exchanges between Saturday and Monday, Chainalysis said.
While estimates can differ widely, researchers say crypto transaction volumes hit $8-11 billion in 2025, as state-linked actors and retail investors alike have turned to the digital currency.
In a quote in a reuters piece Chainalysis stated, “Some of these flows are almost certainly ordinary Iranians moving funds in response to rising risk. Others may be exchanges reshuffling liquidity or attempting to reduce the visibility of their operations on-chain, or state-aligned actors leveraging mainstream platforms to transfer funds.”
Elliptic said that initial tracing suggested the funds were being sent to overseas crypto exchanges.
Chainalysis in 2025 noted that in Iran cryptocurrency has emerged as a critical financial alternative for many Iranians including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) which has extensively leveraged digital assets to finance its malign activities both domestically and through its network of networks across the Middle East.
Iran’s crypto ecosystem reached over $7.78 billion in 2025, growing at afaster pace compared to the year prior.
