Iran's crypto market experiences a significant contraction: capital inflow fell by 11% in the first 7 months before 2025, Nobitex faced a hack, and Tether's large freeze triggered a liquidity crisis.

From January to July 2025, the inflow of funds into Iran's crypto market plummeted to $3.7 billion, a year-on-year decline of 11%. During the conflict with Israel in June, the largest exchange Nobitex was attacked by hackers, resulting in a loss of $90 million, after which Tether froze 42 Iranian-related addresses, leading to a sharp decline in liquidity. Geopolitical tensions, a breakdown in nuclear talks, and frequent domestic power outages have exacerbated market instability, and Iran introduced a capital gains tax on crypto for the first time, further reshaping the landscape of digital assets.

[Conflicts and nuclear talks breakdown trigger capital flight, exchanges frequently become targets of attacks]

According to the latest monitoring data, the inflow of Crypto Assets in Iran in the first seven months of 2025 was only $3.7 billion, a decrease of 11% compared to the same period in 2024. Especially after the breakdown of nuclear negotiations in April and the 12-day military conflict with Israel in June, the market accelerated its contraction — a year-on-year plunge of 50% in June and a sharp drop of 76% in July.

During this period, the outflow of funds from Iran's largest exchange Nobitex surged by 150% in the week before the conflict, as investors rushed to transfer assets to overseas exchanges, low KYC payment providers, and even high-risk platforms with no compliance controls to avoid regional risks.

[Nobitex suffers a politically motivated hacker attack, exposing security and regulatory vulnerabilities]

On June 18, the Israeli hacker group "Predatory Sparrow" attacked Nobitex, stealing $90 million. In addition to the financial loss, the leaked source code revealed that the exchange provided special protection for VIP clients while cooperating with national surveillance, raising widespread concerns about its security mechanisms and transparency.

The incident led to a 70% year-on-year shrinkage in deposits and transactions on Nobitex, prompting the Iranian government to urgently implement night trading restrictions in an attempt to curb cryptocurrency activities. Analysts believe that this attack has clear political motives, as Nobitex has long been accused of having close business ties with the Iranian regime.

[Tether's largest freeze in history, Iran turns to DAI and Polygon to break through]

In July, Tether froze 42 crypto addresses related to Iran in one go, with more than half having close financial ties to Nobitex. Some of these addresses were flagged by Israel's counterterrorism finance department, suspected of having links to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), although the final ownership has not been fully verified.

In response to the liquidity crisis, Iranian exchanges, KOLs, and regime-supported channels have called on users to transfer their assets from USDT on the TRON chain to DAI on Polygon, attempting to maintain the circulation ability of stablecoins through a faster and lower-cost network.

[Iran First Legislation to Tax Crypto Assets, Global Sanctions Continue to Apply Pressure]

In August, Iran officially passed the "Speculation and Windfall Tax Law," which for the first time includes Crypto Assets in the scope of Capital Gains Tax. Despite being implemented in phases, the bill sends a clear signal: the government is strengthening its regulation of encryption, gold, real estate, and foreign exchange.

Meanwhile, Tether has recently frozen 27 million USDT related to the sanctioned Russian exchange Garantex. This exchange has been on the U.S. OFAC blacklist since April 2022, with its main activity areas located in the Moscow Federation Tower and St. Petersburg.

Conclusion

Under the triple blow of geopolitical conflicts, exchange security vulnerabilities, and global stablecoin blockades, the Iranian crypto market is undergoing severe structural adjustments. Although the community is attempting to seek solutions through on-chain migration and alternative stablecoins, government taxation and compliance measures may further alter the local crypto ecosystem. In a highly uncertain geopolitical environment, Iran has become an important case for observing the interaction between digital assets and sovereign regulation.