Iran's Central Bank secretly accumulates $500 million in stablecoins

Source: TokocryptoBlog Original Title: Exposed! Iran Central Bank Accumulates Rp8 Trillion in Stablecoins Original Link: https://news.tokocrypto.com/terbongkar-bank-sentral-iran-kumpulkan-stablecoin-rp8-triliun/ Blockchain analysis firm Elliptic revealed that the Central Bank of Iran (Central Bank of Iran/CBI) has secretly been building a stablecoin reserve worth over 500 million USD or approximately Rp8 trillion.

The funds were collected in the form of USDT, a stablecoin backed by the US dollar, and are suspected to be used to bypass international sanctions while also preventing the rial’s exchange rate from collapsing.

In its latest report, Elliptic states that at least 507 million USD worth of USDT can be directly linked to CBI’s blockchain wallets. This analysis was led by Elliptic founder and Chief Scientist, Dr. Tom Robinson, who mapped the wallet network with high confidence.

This figure is considered a minimum, as it only includes wallets that can be conclusively identified. The USDT funds are known to have flowed through Nobitex, Iran’s largest crypto exchange, before being stored, traded, or converted into rial.

Factors Behind Stablecoin Accumulation

This stablecoin accumulation activity has increased amid heavy pressure on Iran’s currency, with the rial reportedly depreciating nearly 50 percent over eight months. Elliptic assesses that the CBI likely uses stablecoins to inject dollar liquidity into the domestic market, similar to open market operations that should be hindered by sanctions.

By June 2025, after Nobitex was hacked by pro-Israel groups, the flow of funds shifted to cross-chain bridges from Tron to Ethereum, then processed through decentralized and centralized exchanges until the end of 2025.

Elliptic describes this strategy as creating a “digital eurodollar outside of bookkeeping,” allowing Iran to store and transfer dollar value outside the global banking system. However, the company emphasizes that these activities remain traceable because they operate on public blockchains.

Elliptic also notes that Tether has frozen millions of USDT tokens linked to CBI wallets, indicating that stablecoin issuers and exchange platforms still have the ability to enforce sanctions, though this raises complex ethical and geopolitical debates.