When the Iranian government banned stablecoin, a type of cryptocurrency pegged to a stable asset like the US dollar. Also known as pegged tokens, it is used to avoid currency collapse and preserve savings. in 2023, it wasn’t about stopping crypto—it was about stopping people from saving. Iranians weren’t using stablecoins to gamble or speculate. They were using them to protect their life savings from hyperinflation. The rial lost over 70% of its value in three years. With banks freezing accounts and foreign currency imports blocked, stablecoins like USDT became the only reliable way to hold value. But the state saw that as a threat. So they pulled the plug.
That’s when crypto outflows, the movement of cryptocurrency out of a country to preserve wealth or bypass restrictions. Also known as capital flight via blockchain, it became the new normal. exploded. In 2024 alone, Iranians sent over $4.18 billion in crypto abroad—not to fund terrorism, not to evade taxes, but to buy bread, pay rent, and send money to family. Bitcoin became the new dollar. Mining, once a gray-area activity, turned into a survival tactic. But even that got squeezed. The government now controls electricity access for miners, demands 75% of mined crypto be sold on state-run exchanges, and shuts down operations without warning. It’s not regulation—it’s control disguised as policy.
What’s left for ordinary people? No legal stablecoin trading. No easy access to foreign exchanges. No banking safety net. So they adapt. They use peer-to-peer networks. They trade through local Telegram groups. They buy Bitcoin in cash and send it overseas through intermediaries. Some use decentralized exchanges like Curve Finance on Polygon to swap tokens with minimal fees. Others rely on non-KYC platforms like BloFin or GroveX to avoid government tracking. The tools are there. The risks are high. But the alternative—watching your savings vanish overnight—is worse.
What you’ll find in this collection are real stories, real data, and real strategies from people living under these rules. From how Iran’s electricity limits crush mining operations to why Bitcoin is the only thing holding families together, these posts cut through the noise. No fluff. No propaganda. Just what’s happening on the ground—and how people are surviving it.
Iran allows cryptocurrency but under strict state control. Learn how the Central Bank bans rial conversions, limits stablecoins, taxes profits, and forces users into hidden workarounds - all while promoting its own digital currency.