Iran’s central bank has quietly encouraged traders to repatriate overseas earnings through cryptocurrencies such as Tether’s USDT and bitcoin, according to a Financial Times report. The policy shift is aimed at keeping trade moving as U.S. sanctions tighten and conventional foreign-exchange channels remain constrained.
Under the reported approach, exporters can use money earned abroad to pay for imports directly rather than sending most of those funds back through Iran’s official currency system. That change would allow businesses to exchange foreign currency at market rates instead of relying on state-set rates that have long been seen as unfavorable.
A change to the export earnings system
The reported move addresses a problem that has weighed on Iranian exporters for years. Previously, companies were required to return a large share of their foreign income through a government-run platform using official exchange rates, which were often lower than market levels.
That structure created a strong incentive to leave earnings overseas or avoid declaring them when funds were brought back. According to the Financial Times, the new arrangement lets traders keep export proceeds outside the official system and use them to finance their own imports directly.
Crypto channels gain a larger role
The central bank has encouraged the use of cryptocurrencies including USDT and bitcoin in this process, the report said. The shift effectively pushes more trade settlement into digital assets at a time when Iran is looking for ways to preserve access to cross-border payments.
Authorities estimate that businesses have amassed more than $100 billion in undeclared earnings inside and outside the country. Alireza Bozorgmehri, a member of the Iran Digital Transformation Association, told the Financial Times that the central bank has also relaxed its scrutiny of crypto exchanges.
Sanctions pressure remains a major risk
Iran has used cryptocurrency in trade before. In 2022, the country announced a $10 million import order funded with crypto, showing that such channels were already being tested for commercial use.
But the same routes remain vulnerable to U.S. enforcement. In July, Washington placed four wallets linked to Iran’s central bank on its sanctions list, a step that led Tether to freeze $131 million in USDT. Last month, the U.S. expanded its crackdown further to cover crypto, gold, shipping and technology.
What comes next
The reported policy change suggests Tehran is trying to unlock export earnings that have stayed outside the formal system while giving traders more flexibility over how those funds are used. Whether the approach can materially ease trade frictions will likely depend on how widely businesses adopt it and how aggressively sanctions are enforced against the crypto channels involved.
For now, the confirmed next step is continued pressure from Washington on networks tied to Iranian trade and finance, while the central bank’s looser approach appears intended to keep imports funded despite those constraints.
Source: www.coindesk.com