Cryptocurrency outflows from Iran’s largest digital asset exchange spiked immediately after the US and Israel airstrikes on Saturday.
The blockchain analysis platform Elliptic say outbound transaction volumes on Iran’s main exchange Nobitex increased by 700% after the strikes.
Dr. Tom Robinson, co-founder and chief scientist of Elliptic, says the increase may represent capital flight from Iran.
“Nobitex allows rials to be converted into crypto assets, which can then be withdrawn to any third-party wallet. This allows funds to be moved out of Iran while avoiding some of the scrutiny of the global banking system. The initial tracing of Nobitex’s recent outflows suggests that the funds are being sent to overseas crypto exchanges that have historically seen significant inflows from Iran.”
Robinson notes that Nobitex has more than 11 million users and sent or received $7.2 billion in cryptoasset transactions last year. The stock market has witnessed multiple outflow spikes since early 2026, especially after the Iranian protests and an internet outage in January.
Other outflow increases came after the rollout of US sanctions on Iran, suggesting crypto could be used to evade international punitive measures, Robinson said.
“While cryptoassets provide a route to bypass banking restrictions, blockchain’s inherent transparency works both ways. The same on-chain data that revealed these outflow surges also allows authorities and compliance professionals to track where those funds go next, often with greater precision and speed than traditional financial monitoring allows.”
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