Fresh U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran have drawn new attention to a financial network Tehran has built in parallel to its battered banking system: bitcoin mining and a fast-growing stablecoin economy.

Iran legalized crypto mining in 2019, allowing licensed operators to use subsidized electricity in exchange for selling mined $BTC to the central bank. Bitcoin has served as a tool for paying for imports and settling trade outside the dollar system, even if indirectly.

Estimates in recent years have put Iran’s share of global bitcoin mining power between 2% and 5%, though much of the activity operates out of public view.

Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis found that Iran’s crypto ecosystem reached $7.78 billion in 2025, growing…