Iran Allows Businesses to Use Bitcoin and USDT for Cross-Border Payments as US Sanctions Tighten

TLDR

• Iran’s central bank is allowing businesses to use Bitcoin and USDT for cross-border payments as foreign exchange controls ease
• Around $10 billion in crypto flowed through Iran in 2025, with Iran accounting for roughly 4.5% of global Bitcoin mining
• The US Treasury froze $344 million in USDT from an Iran-linked wallet in April and sanctioned four major Iranian exchanges in June
• Tether froze $131 million linked to Iran’s central bank after OFAC updated its sanctions list in July
• The US has frozen or seized over $1 billion in Iran-related crypto assets in 2026 alone

Iran is now openly letting its businesses use Bitcoin and Tether’s USDT to handle cross-border payments. The country’s central bank has encouraged companies to bring overseas funds home through local crypto exchanges over the past several months.

JUST IN: 🇮🇷🇺🇸 Iran is using crypto including Bitcoin and USDT to bypass US sanctions, FT reports. pic.twitter.com/zkCugxSQVu

- Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) September 9, 2026

A corporate executive close to the Iranian government said the central bank no longer asks how funds are being transferred. Receiving export payments in cryptocurrency has become routine for Iranian businesses.

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