Outflow of cryptocurrency on Iranian crypto exchanges exceeded 700%

After the US and Israeli air strikes on Tehran on February 28, 2026, Iran’s largest crypto exchange Nobitex recorded a sharp surge in withdrawals. According to Elliptic, within the first minutes after the strikes, the outflow increased by more than 700% and exceeded half a million dollars, and then almost 3 million were withdrawn in one hour.

Analysts note that a significant portion of the assets were transferred to foreign exchanges, which may indicate a capital outflow from the country amid uncertainty. The use of cryptocurrencies allows to circumvent some of the restrictions of the global banking system, especially under sanctions.

However, the very next day, the activity dropped sharply. TRM Labs attributed this to the almost complete shutdown of the Internet in Iran: the connection level dropped by about 99%. According to their estimates, the country’s crypto ecosystem is not showing a massive outflow, but a general drop in transactional activity and trading volumes.

Nobitex plays a key role in the market: it accounts for about 87% of crypto transactions in Iran, and in 2025, the exchange processed trades worth more than $ 7.2 billion for more than 11 million users. At the same time, the company has already had problems — in June 2025, it was hacked for $ 81 million.

For many Iranians, cryptocurrencies remain a tool for saving money amid the instability of the banking system. In October 2025, one of the country’s largest private banks, Ayandeh Bank, declared bankruptcy after suffering losses of more than $ 5 billion, affecting tens of millions of customers. The Central Bank of Iran has warned that several other institutions may be at risk of liquidation without reforms. Against this backdrop, cryptocurrency exchanges are becoming an alternative channel of financial security, despite the risks of attacks and regulatory restrictions.