Crypto outflows from Iran’s largest digital asset exchange spiked immediately following the US and Israel’s airstrikes on Saturday.
The blockchain analytics platform Elliptic says outgoing transaction volumes on the top Iranian exchange Nobitex jumped by 700% following the strikes.
Dr. Tom Robinson, Elliptic’s co-founder and chief scientist, says the surge potentially represents capital flight from Iran.
“Nobitex allows rials to be converted to cryptoassets, which can then be withdrawn to any external wallet.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. Initial tracing of recent outflows from Nobitex suggests that the funds are being sent to overseas cryptoasset exchanges that have historically seen significant inflows from Iran.”
Robinson notes Nobitex has more than 11 million users and sent or received $7.2 billion in cryptoasset transactions last year. The exchange has witnessed multiple outflow spikes since the beginning of 2026, especially following the Iranian protests and an internet blackout in January.
Other outflow surges materialized following the rollout of US sanctions against Iran, indicating crypto could be used to circumvent international punitive measures, according to Robinson.
“While cryptoassets offer a route around banking restrictions, blockchain’s inherent transparency cuts both ways. The same on-chain data that revealed these outflow surges also enables authorities and compliance professionals to trace where those funds go next, often with greater precision and speed than traditional financial monitoring allows.”
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