Iran’s Central Bank Bought $500 Million in USDT Stablecoin to Prop Up Rial

According to findings by crypto security firm Elliptic, the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) secretly purchased at least $507 million worth of Tether's USDT stablecoin throughout 2025 amid a deepening national currency crisis that saw the rial plummet to historic lows. This state-level effort aimed to stabilize the currency and maintain trade flows while bypassing international banking sanctions. Initially, the CBI routed USDT through Iran's largest exchange, Nobitex, using it as a domestic dollar reserve convertible to rials. However, following a major hack on Nobitex in June 2025 by a pro-Israel group, the CBI shifted its strategy, moving funds via cross-chain bridges from TRON to Ethereum and utilizing decentralized exchanges for greater obfuscation. The situation was further complicated when businessman Babak Zanjani claimed that wallet addresses used by the CBI were quickly exposed to hostile actors, raising serious concerns about potential information leaks within Iran's sensitive financial institutions.

(Source：BeInCrypto)