Iran

DeFi Intel Research Desk2026-07-14Asia

Is crypto legal in Iran? (2026)

Partially — cryptocurrency is restricted in Iran. Current status: Restricted — CBI-supervised trading; payments banned. Oversight sits with Central Bank of Iran (CBI). Full details — governing law, licensing, tax and dated enforcement history — follow below (last reviewed 2026-07-14).

Framework: No single crypto statute — a patchwork of Central Bank of Iran (CBI) circulars and cabinet decisions: a 2018 ban on banks handling crypto, a 2019 cabinet decision legalising licensed mining, and a January 2025 directive making the CBI sole regulator of the crypto market.

The CBI banned banks and financial institutions from dealing in cryptocurrencies in April 2018, citing money-laundering and terrorism-financing risks. In 2019 the government recognised crypto mining as a licensed industrial activity: miners need an establishment licence and an operating licence, must sell mined digital assets to the CBI (used to fund imports) and pay premium electricity tariffs — costs that pushed much of the sector underground and cut Iran's share of global Bitcoin mining from roughly 4.5% in 2021 to about 3.1% in 2024. On 27 December 2024 the CBI blocked the rial payment gateways serving crypto exchanges; from January 2025 it selectively re-enabled rial-to-crypto flows through a government-controlled API giving the state full access to user and transaction data, with exchanges required to seek licences and run full KYC/AML. Using crypto as a means of payment remains prohibited, a February 2025 directive banned crypto advertising nationwide, and in December 2025 authorities reinforced the bar on using crypto (and gold) as payment alternatives to the rial.

Tax treatment

No dedicated crypto tax framework has been verified for Iran. Licensed miners bear premium electricity tariffs and must sell output to the CBI, but published capital-gains rules for crypto disposals by individuals are pending verification.

• Capital-gains rate: Pending verification
• Mining: premium electricity tariffs; mined assets must be sold to the CBI

Travel rule applicability

Status: not FATF-aligned. Iran remains on the FATF list of High-Risk Jurisdictions Subject to a Call for Action (the "blacklist"); in February 2025 the FATF confirmed counter-measures under Recommendation 19 after Iran failed to enact the Palermo and Terrorist Financing Conventions in line with FATF standards. Domestic exchanges apply KYC/AML under CBI supervision (no anonymous accounts), but FATF-style travel-rule data exchange with foreign VASPs is effectively unavailable — most global platforms exclude Iranian users for sanctions reasons.

Notable enforcement actions

• 2024. 27 December — the CBI blocked crypto-to-rial payment gateways across Iranian exchange websites, freezing fiat on/off-ramps pending the new supervisory regime.
• 2025. January — the government designated the CBI sole regulator of the crypto market; rial on-ramps re-opened only via a state-controlled API with full transaction-data access. February — comprehensive nationwide ban on crypto advertising, online and on billboards.
• 2025. 18 June — Nobitex, Iran's largest exchange, was hacked for over $90M by the pro-Israel group Gonjeshke Darande ("Predatory Sparrow"), which burned the funds in vanity addresses rather than cashing out, a day after claiming the Bank Sepah attack; Nobitex said most assets sat in unaffected cold wallets.

Public licensed CASP list

The CBI has not published a public register of licensed crypto exchanges that DeFi Intel could verify; the licensed-platform list is pending verification. Nobitex is widely reported as the largest domestic exchange and operates mandatory KYC under CBI supervision. Foreign platforms generally do not serve Iranian residents because of US and international sanctions.

Comparison to neighbours

Compare Iran crypto regulation with three geographically adjacent jurisdictions:

Doing business in Iran — practical notes

Iran is a sanctions-first market: US secondary-sanctions exposure, FATF counter-measures and the CBI's data-access requirements make it effectively closed to foreign crypto businesses. Domestic activity runs through CBI-supervised exchanges with state-controlled rial gateways; crypto payments and advertising are banned, and mining requires establishment and operating licences plus an obligation to sell to the central bank. Blockchain-analytics firms document significant use of crypto to bypass sanctions — a standing compliance red flag for any counterparty exposure.

Methodology and sources

This profile was researched and updated by DeFi Intel's research desk on 2026-07-14 from the primary and secondary sources listed below. Claims that could not be verified against a source are omitted or marked pending — we do not republish unverified third-party datasets. Submit corrections and primary-source links to research@defi-intel.com.

Sources

• Wikipedia — Cryptocurrency in Iran (regulatory timeline)
• FATF — High-Risk Jurisdictions Subject to a Call for Action (Feb 2025)
• Fortune — Nobitex hacked for $90M, funds burned (Jun 2025)
• Elliptic — Iranian exchange Nobitex hacked by pro-Israel group
• SpecialEurasia — Crypto under control: geopolitical drivers of Iran (Feb 2025)
• Lightspark country brief — Iran compliance overview