Withdrawals from Iran’s leading cryptocurrency exchange surged over 700% as the United States and Israel launched coordinated airstrikes on Tehran on Saturday.
- Crypto withdrawals from Nobitex jumped over 700% within minutes of US and Israeli airstrikes.
- Elliptic linked the spike to potential capital movement abroad as users sought economic flight to safety.
Data tracked by blockchain analytics firm Elliptic shows that Iranian crypto users withdrew over $500,000 within minutes of the first strikes, before the figure hit as high as nearly $3 million between Feb. 28 and March 1.
According to the report, Iranians are using digital assets as a channel to move capital abroad while traditional financial routes remain disrupted by the ongoing conflict.
Rial, the country’s national currency, has continued to struggle over the past months and recently hit a new low on Feb. 19. Per the report, this has prompted many locals to direct funds to “overseas cryptoasset exchanges,” some of which have seen significant inflows from Iran.
A report from Chainalysis last year recorded a 70% year-over-year increase in Iranian crypto outflows, largely driven by individuals seeking financial security.
“Nobitex allows rials to be converted to cryptoassets, which can then be withdrawn to any external wallet. This allows funds to be moved out of Iran while avoiding some of the scrutiny of the global banking system,” Elliptic said.
Elliptic added that similar surges in cryptoasset outflows from Nobitex have been observed periodically since the start of the year, most recently during the January 9 demonstrations.
An internet blackout imposed by the regime significantly mitigated exchange activity and reduced visible outflows at the time.
A separate report from TRM Labs recorded a similar pattern over this weekend, noting that Iran’s internet connectivity fell roughly 99% after the strikes began. However, the firm said that the activity was not capital flight but rather “a downturn in both transactions and volume” due to the internet blackouts.
Nobitex is Iran’s largest crypto exchange and reportedly handled about $7.2 billion in cryptoasset transactions in 2025 alone, according to Elliptic.
Last year, the exchange was hacked by pro Israel hacker group, Predatory Sparrow, which led to losses of over $90 million and severely impacted the exchange’s liquidity for both retail and institutional users, slowing transaction processing and shaking market confidence.
