Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) may play an underrated role in the recent protests in Iran, with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard reportedly moving $1 billion through crypto exchanges to evade sanctions.
Currency Collapse Drives Mass Bitcoin Adoption
The Iranian rial crashed to a record 1.42 million per U.S. dollar in late December, having lost over 40% of its value since June 2025.
While ordinary citizens flee economic collapse, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has been using cryptocurrency for a different purpose: evading international sanctions.
TRM Labs identified Zedcex and Zedxion, two UK-registered exchanges, as key facilitators of IRGC transactions. IRGC-linked activity accounted for 56% of total volume on these platforms between 2023 and 2025.
The vast majority of transactions used Tether’s USDT stablecoin on the Tron (CRYPTO: TRX) blockchain.
IRGC …