The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) built up a stash of at least half a billion dollars worth of tether (USDT) last year as part of its efforts to bypass global sanctions. The bank is also no longer routing it through its favorite crypto exchange Nobitex.
Crypto security firm Elliptic has been able to track a network of wallets tied to the bank that accrued at least $507 million worth of USDT between May 2025 and June 2025.
“This figure should be treated as a lower bound on the amount of USDT acquired by the CBI,” Elliptic noted.
The firm also believes that the USDT may have been used to direct US dollars into the local market and help prop up the price of the Iranian rial during a period of economic decline last year.
Elliptic’s research mapped out a network of wallets helping to move over $500 million worth of USDT.Read more: US hits Iran’s ‘shadow banking’ network in Hong Kong, UAE
Additionally, Elliptic believes that the USDT was gathered to help Iran’s government bypass sanctions and work with its own banking network that treats the currency as “digital off-book eurodollar accounts.”
Tether is run by CEO, Paolo Ardoino, and has reached a market capitalization of over $186 billion. It currently boasts shareholders tied to growing right-wing populism in the UK, is a key tool for a network of international scammers, and is used globally to move dollar-backed crypto across markets.
Iran stopped sending USDT to Nobitex
Most of the USDT was sent to sanctioned crypto exchange Nobitex in the first half of last year. The exchange is the largest in Iran, and has previously been linked by Elliptic to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and “cross-border sanctions evasion apparatus.”
However, by June 2025, the USDT was redirected away from Nobitex and instead bridged from the Tron blockchain to Ethereum where it was converted into various other assets.
Elliptic notes that the movement of USDT coincides with the $90 million hack that Nobitex suffered in the same month.
Pro-Israel hackers targeted the exchange on June 18 and later threatened to target further institutions supporting Iran’s military.
Read more: Nobitex hackers threaten to ‘destroy’ pro-Iran institutions
Days later, the US joined Isreal in bombing Iran over nuclear obligations breaches. Iran has been sanctioned on and off since the late ’70s, and more recently, was sanctioned by the UN in September 2025 over its nuclear program.
The country has recently seen a number of anti-government protests that have led to an internet blackout and violent government crackdown that’s killed anywhere between 5,000 and 20,000 people.
According to a UK government research brief, the protests were reportedly triggered by the country’s economic problems, as well as upset over its support of Middle Eastern armed groups.
It also highlighted a desire for the country to return to a monarchy, specifically under the rule of Reza Pahlavi, who was exiled in 1979.
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Source: https://protos.com/irans-central-bank-stacked-507m-usdt-last-year-report/
