TEHRAN — Iran is increasingly turning to Tether and other cryptocurrencies to work around sanctions and banking restrictions, achieving a major breakthrough in de-dollarization by finding a more complicated way to use dollars.
Facing tighter financial restrictions and shortages of foreign currency, Iranian authorities have reportedly relaxed some rules governing how businesses move money across borders, including allowing greater use of crypto for settlement.
Tether has proven especially useful because each USDT is designed to be worth one U.S. dollar, allowing Iran to reduce its dependence on the American financial system while remaining highly dependent on the thing printed on the front of it.
Officials praised the arrangement as a major step toward monetary sovereignty, explaining that the principal weakness of the dollar had always been the part where Americans could see you using it.
Under the new framework, Iranian businesses can effectively obtain dollars without banks, correspondent accounts or the inconvenience of asking the United States for permission.
Economists said the strategy could represent a new model for countries seeking to escape dollar dominance.
“The important thing,” one analyst explained, “is that these are not U.S. dollars.”
“They are tokens whose entire purpose is to be U.S. dollars.”
Iran is reportedly considering further de-dollarization measures, including writing “not dollars” on the tokens.
Inspired by:
Crypto.News - "Iran turns to crypto for export payments amid sanctions: FT" (September 9, 2026)
