Following the airstrikes by the US and Israel on Saturday, crypto outflows from Iran’s largest digital asset exchange witnessed a significant spike.
According to Elliptic, a blockchain analytics platform, outgoing transaction volumes on the top Iranian exchange Nobitex surged by 700% post the strikes.
Dr. Tom Robinson, the co-founder and chief scientist of Elliptic, mentioned that this surge could potentially indicate capital flight from Iran.
“Nobitex allows conversion of rials to cryptoassets, which can then be withdrawn to external wallets, facilitating the movement of funds out of Iran while evading some of the global banking system’s scrutiny. Initial analysis of recent outflows from Nobitex suggests that the funds are being transferred to overseas cryptoasset exchanges that have historically attracted significant inflows from Iran.”
Robinson highlighted that Nobitex boasts over 11 million users and facilitated $7.2 billion in cryptoasset transactions last year. The exchange has witnessed multiple outflow spikes since the beginning of 2026, particularly following the Iranian protests and an internet blackout in January.
Further outflow surges were observed after the imposition of US sanctions against Iran, indicating the potential use of crypto to bypass international punitive measures, as per Robinson.
“While cryptoassets offer a way around banking restrictions, the inherent transparency of blockchain can be a double-edged sword. The same on-chain data that revealed these outflow surges also enables authorities and compliance professionals to track the destination of those funds with precision and speed, often surpassing traditional financial monitoring.”
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Image Source: Midjourney
