Amid mass unrest, Iranians increased their Bitcoin purchases and withdrawals from local exchanges to personal wallets, Chainalysis reported.
“Comparing the period preceding the protests (from November 1 to December 27, 2025) with the period from December 28, 2025, to January 8, 2026 (when the Internet was shut down in Iran), we observed a significant increase in both the average daily transaction amount in dollars and the number of daily transfers to personal wallets,” the company's report states.
During the compared periods, the number of small transactions (up to $100) increased by 78%, the number of medium transactions (up to $1,000) grew by 123%, large transactions (up to $10,000) rose by 262%, and larger transactions increased by 55%.
During the protests, Iranians are purchasing bitcoins at significantly higher rates than before, analysts report.
According to them, this behavior has become a “rational response” to the collapse of the Iranian rial and indicates the role of cryptocurrency as a financial lifeline.
According to Chainalysis, in 2025, the volume of Iran's crypto ecosystem exceeded $7.78 billion.
