Iran's cryptocurrency "shadow economy" has reached $7.78 billion, with citizens turning to Bitcoin as a safe haven.

PANews reported on March 1 that, according to Coindesk, blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis stated that Iran's cryptocurrency ecosystem will reach $7.78 billion in 2025, exceeding the growth rate of the previous year.

Iran legalized cryptocurrency mining in 2019, allowing licensed operators to use subsidized electricity and sell the mined Bitcoin to the central bank. Recent estimates suggest that Iran accounts for between 2% and 5% of global Bitcoin mining hashrate.

As the country's main military force, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has been deepening its influence in the cryptocurrency space. Chainalysis estimates that in the fourth quarter of 2025, addresses associated with the IRGC accounted for more than 50% of total cryptocurrency inflows into Iran, receiving over $3 billion last year.

Another analysis by Elliptic found that the Central Bank of Iran had accumulated at least $507 million in USDT by 2025, which could have helped stabilize the rial exchange rate and boost trade. However, this effort has largely failed, with data showing the rial has depreciated by more than 96% against the dollar. Meanwhile, ordinary Iranians have begun turning to Bitcoin. During the recent protests and internet outages, the amount of Bitcoin withdrawn from local exchanges to personal wallets surged.