Iran relaxes currency controls, allowing crypto for import financing

Iran’s central bank has reportedly loosened foreign‑currency controls to encourage businesses to bring overseas earnings back to the country. The new rules allow exporters to finance imports directly with those earnings, bypassing the requirement to sell foreign currency on the government’s official exchange platform.

Crypto as a settlement tool

The policy specifically mentions the use of Tether’s USD‑tether (USDT) and Bitcoin (BTC) for cross‑border transactions through Iranian cryptocurrency exchanges.

Sanctions backdrop

The change comes as U.S. sanctions on Iran tighten. In early June, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned four Iranian crypto exchanges as part of its “Economic Fury” campaign and announced the seizure of roughly $1 billion in Iranian crypto assets. Later, authorities froze more than $130 million held in wallets linked to Iran’s central bank.

Previous crypto flows

Blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs previously reported over $3.8 billion in transaction flows between the exchange CoinEx and sanctioned Iranian entities spanning more than seven years. CoinEx denied any formal relationship with the Iranian government or domestic exchanges.

Official response

The Central Bank of Iran did not respond to requests for comment.