IRGC Controls Nearly Half of Iran’s Crypto Activity

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps controls nearly half of Iran’s cryptocurrency activity and expanded its tracked crypto footprint from about $2 billion to $3 billion in one year, Chainalysis reports. Stablecoins are the main medium for trade and procurement; Bitcoin plays a smaller role.

Kaitlin Martin, Senior Intelligence Analyst at Chainalysis, estimated the IRGC’s share at nearly 50% in the fourth quarter of 2025 and described the force as taking “an overwhelmingly large share” of that cryptocurrency activity. Chainalysis characterizes the $3 billion figure as a lower-bound estimate derived from public data.

International sanctions have limited Iran’s access to major global exchanges and U.S. dollar liquidity. Domestic exchanges have recorded higher trading volumes, and Chainalysis noted that nation-states are beginning to integrate crypto into financial rails and layer those flows with conventional transfers.

Regulatory filings, sanctions records and seizure orders indicate extensive use of dollar-pegged stablecoins by actors linked to the IRGC. The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has sanctioned multiple wallets tied to those actors, and Israel’s National Bureau for Counter-Terror Financing has seized more than 100 wallets, the filings show.

Stablecoins retain a dollar peg and enable rapid cross-border payments when access to U.S. dollar accounts is restricted. Martin observed that issuers can freeze assets, but that stablecoins still offer speed and liquidity for moving value and conducting trade at scale.

Bitcoin is used by some regime actors and ordinary Iranians, but Chainalysis says its price volatility and slower settlement make it less suited for routine commercial transactions and large procurement. For projects that set prices for routes and services, stablecoins provide a more predictable unit of account.

Reports describe a toll system in the Strait of Hormuz that would price access to a major shipping chokepoint. Chainalysis identified the reported system as part of a wider effort to integrate crypto into state financial activity.

Martin cautioned that public transaction data understate the full picture because private accounts and layered traditional financial movements do not appear in open-source records. U.S. and allied authorities have targeted wallets and frozen addresses linked to financing tied to Iran.