Iran's Rial Crashes as US Targets Bitcoin Mining Industry
The value of Iran's currency, the rial, has fallen to a record low due to new US sanctions targeting its Bitcoin mining industry. The rial hit a record 2.02 million per dollar on August 24, as part of Operation Economic Outcast, a sweeping sanctions package launched by President Trump's administration. The package names digital assets as a target for the first time, alongside technology, gold, aviation, and shipping.
The IRGC controls an estimated 65% of Iran's Bitcoin mining capacity through state-linked farms, with miners producing coins worth between $1.35 billion to $3.15 billion at various points. The US Treasury has been chipping away at this network for months, sanctioning several entities in June, including Nobitex, which processed over half of Iran's digital-asset inflows.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned that secondary sanctions on countries trading with Tehran could follow within weeks, squeezing the intermediaries Iran relies on to convert stablecoins into usable cash. The country's power grid is already strained, and further military escalation or blackout-driven rationing could shut down IRGC-linked mining farms.