Iran's central bank has reportedly relaxed foreign-exchange controls, allowing exporters to use overseas earnings, including Bitcoin and Tether's dollar-pegged USDT, for cross-border transactions and imports. Exporters had been required to return foreign income through official channels at rates generally below open-market levels, leaving more than 20,000 entities owing roughly EUR94 billion in unrepatriated funds, according to the Financial Times. Iranian-linked cryptocurrency activity totaled about $9.9 billion in 2025, down from $11.4 billion in 2024, with four exchanges accounting for about $7.7 billion, or 78%, of observed volume, TRM Labs said. USDT, particularly on the low-fee TRON network, is the main transactional asset, while Bitcoin is used more for value storage and mining. Enforcement pressure has intensified: monthly exchange inflows fell from $2.1 billion at the end of 2024 to just over $510 million in the first quarter of 2026, and connectivity disruptions temporarily cut platform volumes by about 80%.