Elliptic Report Reveals Iran’s Central Bank Accumulated Over $500 Million in Stablecoins

Summary: Blockchain analytics firm says Iran used USDT holdings to support currency and sidestep sanctions.

A new investigation by blockchain analytics firm Elliptic has uncovered that the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) quietly built up more than $500 million worth of USDT, a widely used U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin, in what researchers say appears to be a sanctions-evasion strategy while trying to stabilise its economy.

Using leaked documents and on-chain data, Elliptic traced wallet activity linked to the CBI back to at least $507 million in USDT holdings, with the analysis likely representing a conservative estimate because it included only wallets confidently attributed to the central bank. The purchases — made in part during April and May 2025 with Emirati dirhams — have been tracked through public blockchain networks, particularly TRON and Ethereum.

Analysts say these stablecoin holdings seem to have been used to support the Iranian rial, which was under severe pressure as it lost roughly half its value against the U.S. dollar over eight months amid international sanctions and economic strain. By holding dollar-linked assets outside the conventional banking system — which Iran is largely excluded from due to sanctions — the central bank may have been attempting to inject dollar liquidity into domestic markets without relying on correspondent banks or the SWIFT financial messaging network.

At first, almost all the USDT moved through Nobitex, which is Iran’s biggest crypto exchange. People could swap stablecoins for rials or other assets there, no problem. Nobitex faced a security breach in 2025, and everything changed. Suddenly, money began flowing across cross-chain bridges and decentralised platforms. That made it a lot harder to track, and the funds got scattered across different networks.

When a sanctioned central bank turns to stablecoins, it’s a sign—digital assets aren’t just investment tools anymore. They’re becoming a way to build parallel financial systems when the usual routes are off-limits. Elliptic put it well, calling this kind of accumulation “digital off-book eurodollar accounts”—basically, a way to move and hold dollars outside the reach of traditional reserves or controls.

Yet even as stablecoins can be used to circumvent certain hurdles, they come with their own vulnerabilities. Public blockchains — by design — leave permanent transaction trails, and blockchain analysis tools make it possible to trace and attribute movements back to entities such as the CBI. In fact, Tether, the issuer of USDT, has at times blacklisted and frozen wallets reportedly linked to Iranian activity, underscoring that such assets aren’t completely immune to enforcement actions.

Financial experts say the Iranian case underscores a broader tension in the digital asset space: while cryptocurrencies can offer alternate routes around financial blockages, their transparency and the growing sophistication of compliance tools mean that illicit or sanctioned activity can still be exposed and monitored by authorities and analytics firms.

This episode also raises more fundamental questions about the function of stablecoins in global banking, particularly for countries facing economic isolation. For now, Elliptic’s findings provide one of the most detailed glimpses yet into how state actors might be leveraging cryptoassets to manage real-world economic challenges — and how those strategies are tracked in an era of unprecedented on-chain visibility.