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Iranians stash bitcoin as protests rage and rial tanks
Amid protests and economic crisis, Iranians are increasingly withdrawing bitcoin from exchanges to personal wallets.
Updated Jan 16, 2026, 7:22 a.m. Published Jan 16, 2026, 5:51 a.m.
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What to know:
- Amid protests and economic crisis, Iranians are increasingly withdrawing bitcoin from exchanges to personal wallets.
- The collapse of Iran's currency, the rial, has driven citizens to seek bitcoin as a hedge against inflation.
- The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has significantly increased its share of Iran's crypto activity, handling billions in transactions.
As Iran's government clamped down on recent street protests, locals took direct custody of their bitcoin , highlighting the cryptocurrency's decentralized, censorship-resistant appeal.
Beginning on Dec. 28, street demonstrations rocked across multiple cities in Iran against the Islamic Republic government and a deepening economic crisis, marked by rampant inflation and currency collapse.
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From the start of the protests to Jan. 8, when Iran imposed an internet blackout, blockchain intelligence firm Chainalysis observed a notable increase in blockchain transactions withdrawing BTC from Iranian exchanges to unknown personal wallets.
"Most telling is the surge in withdrawals from Iranian exchanges to unattributed personal Bitcoin wallets. This surge suggests Iranians are taking possession of Bitcoin at a markedly higher rate during protests than they were beforehand," Chainalysis said in a report published Thursday.
Rial collapse spurs hedging demand
The firm said the urge to stash bitcoin is a "rational response" to the collapse in Iran's official paper (fiat) currency, the rial (IRR), which eroded the purchasing power of the national unit. The rial has tanked from roughly 42 per USD at the end of December to over 1,050 this week, a massive slide which has rendered it worthless.
Bitcoin, the peer-to-peer decentralized money with a fixed supply of 21 million coins, is widely seen as a powerful hedge against collapsing paper currencies and economic crises. Its censorship-resistant nature and the fact that it can be moved across borders without bank or government interference make it especially vital during political unrest, as Iranians face now.
BTC therefore provides "liquidity and optionality" to Iranians, facilitating quick access to borderless cash outside official channels.
The trend in Iran is consistent with the global pattern: when governments squeeze people, they turn to cryptocurrencies.
"This pattern of increased BTC withdrawals during times of heightened instability reflects a global trend we’ve observed in other regions experiencing war, economic turmoil, or government crackdowns," Chainalysis said.
IRGC embraces crypto
Forces linked to Iran's establishment have embraced crypto as well.
According to Chainalysis, addresses linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), also known as the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, have steadily grown as a share of Iran's overall crypto activity, accounting for over 50% of all crypto value received in the fourth quarter of 2025.
These IRGC addresses handled more than $2 billion on-chain, bringing the total to $3 billion in 2025, a figure likely underestimated, the firm said, since it tracks only those wallets that the U.S. and Israel have sanctioned.
