The post Iran’s central bank bought $500 million in cryptocurrency to dodge US sanctions appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.

Iran’s central bank purchased more than $500 million worth of digital currency last year as it struggles to handle a worsening money crisis and get around American sanctions, according to a report from blockchain research firm Elliptic. The bank made two separate purchases of Tether’s USDT in April and May 2025, Elliptic announced on Wednesday. The company based its findings on leaked papers and its own investigation. Through June 2025, most of the money went to an Iranian digital currency exchange where people could keep their USDT, swap it for other digital currencies, or exchange it for Iranian rials, Elliptic reported. Things changed after hackers who support Israel broke into that exchange in June. Following the attack, USDT was converted into various crypto assets and moved across various blockchain networks. Iran has been mostly locked out of worldwide money markets and banks since 2018. That was when President Donald Trump walked away from a major nuclear agreement and put strict penalties on the country. Limits on Iran’s oil sales have hurt the country’s ability to get foreign money. Oil exports are Iran’s biggest way of earning money from other countries. Iran also cannot bring home money from its exports and has been kicked out of the SWIFT banking system. These problems have made it hard for the central bank to protect the value of the rial and fight rising prices. Elliptic report, seen by The Guardian, said the central bank appears to be using the digital currency to stop the rial from losing more value and to handle payments for trade with other countries. This method lets Iran build what Elliptic called a “sanctions-proof banking system” and “a shadow money layer that can hold US dollar value where US officials cannot reach it.” Iran’s digital currency market reaches $7.78 billion…

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Filed under: News - @ January 21, 2026 6:28 pm