Iran's central bank has reportedly allowed qualifying exporters to use Bitcoin and Tether's USDT through domestic cryptocurrency exchanges to settle import obligations, while encouraging traders to repatriate funds by any means necessary, including through Bitcoin and Tether. The Financial Times, citing businesses, regime insiders and analysts, reported that the central bank has become less insistent on strict enforcement against Bitcoin trading platforms. The activity has intensified as sanctions escalated from late 2025 and conflict with the U.S. and Israel began in February 2026. A naval blockade has cut Iranian oil exports by more than 80%, and no ceasefire is in place after a Pakistan-brokered April truce and a June memorandum collapsed. In July, the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control said Hormuz Safe, a system developed by Iran's Ministry of Economy, accepted Bitcoin and other digital assets from ships using the Strait of Hormuz. Bitcoin has no central issuer capable of freezing holdings, unlike USDT, a stablecoin whose issuer can block tokens. Blockchain analytics firms TRM Labs and Chainalysis placed Iran-linked cryptocurrency activity at between $8 billion and $10 billion in 2025. Estimates of Iran's Bitcoin mining presence vary sharply: Elliptic put its share of global hashrate at 4.5%, while the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance estimated 0.12% and Hashrate Index showed about 0.2% in the third quarter of 2026. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said authorities had seized roughly $1 billion in crypto tied to Iran and formally launched Operation Economic Outcast on Aug. 24 to press foreign countries to sever Iranian digital-asset links.