Iran Eases Currency Rules to Enable Crypto-Based Sanctions Evasion

Iran's central bank has relaxed foreign currency controls in a strategic move to help businesses repatriate overseas earnings through cryptocurrency, according to a Financial Times report. The new rules allow exporters to fund imports using their foreign currency earnings without first converting them through the government's official exchange platform. This shift comes as the United States intensifies economic pressure on Iran through sanctions enforcement.

The policy shift specifically enables the use of Tether's USDT and Bitcoin (BTC) to settle cross-border transactions via Iranian cryptocurrency exchanges. By bypassing the official exchange platform, exporters gain a mechanism to move funds internationally while circumventing traditional banking channels that are subject to US sanctions. The Central Bank of Iran has not publicly commented on the changes, and Cointelegraph's request for confirmation went unanswered.

The crypto channel has already faced significant scrutiny from US authorities. In early June, the Treasury Department sanctioned four Iranian crypto exchanges as part of its "Economic Fury" campaign. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent subsequently announced the seizure of approximately $1 billion in Iranian crypto assets and the freezing of more than $130 million in wallets linked to Iran's central bank, followed by an additional $344 million freeze. Blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs also reported over $3.8 billion in flows between crypto exchange CoinEx and sanctioned Iranian entities spanning more than seven years, though CoinEx denied any commercial relationship with the Iranian government.

Iran's pivot toward crypto-based settlement reflects a broader trend of sanctioned jurisdictions leveraging digital assets to maintain access to global trade. As enforcement tightens through wallet freezes and exchange sanctions, the episode underscores both the resilience of decentralized financial rails and the increasing sophistication of regulatory countermeasures targeting illicit crypto flows.