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Report Says IRGC‑Linked Crypto Moved Hundreds of Millions During Iran Blackout

A cyber‑intelligence report reviewed by Fox News Digital alleges that cryptocurrency wallets linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps continued operating through a nationwide internet blackout after the Feb. 28 U.S.–Israeli strikes, moving what analysts describe as tens of millions of dollars in the first hours and ultimately hundreds of millions out of the country. Omri Raiter, CEO of Israeli firm RAKIA, says his team tracked real‑time blockchain flows and found that IRGC‑connected wallets received more than $3 billion in crypto over 2025, and that Iran’s broader crypto ecosystem saw about $7.78 billion in activity that year, citing internal data and Chainalysis figures. RAKIA’s analysis contends that the same crypto “corridors” are being used both to finance Iranian proxy groups in places like Lebanon and Yemen and to facilitate personal capital flight by regime‑connected individuals, suggesting a resilient sanctions‑evasion infrastructure that functions even amid communications shutdowns and kinetic attacks. The article notes that the U.S. Treasury on Jan. 30 sanctioned several Iran‑linked crypto exchanges in one of its first platform‑wide actions against digital‑asset venues, but the reported post‑strike flows raise questions about how effective those measures have been in constraining Tehran’s access to hard‑to‑trace funding during the current war. On social media, crypto analysts are split between warning that the story underscores long‑standing gaps in U.S. sanctions enforcement and criticizing the report as opaque, since its underlying wallet‑attribution methods and datasets have not been independently verified.

Iran War and Sanctions Evasion Cryptocurrency and National Security

📌 Key Facts

  • RAKIA CEO Omri Raiter says monitoring after the Feb. 28 U.S.–Israeli strikes detected a surge from tens of millions to hundreds of millions of dollars leaving Iran‑linked crypto accounts during a nationwide internet blackout.
  • An internal RAKIA report cited in the article claims IRGC‑linked wallets received more than $3 billion in cryptocurrency in 2025.
  • The report also cites Chainalysis data estimating Iran’s overall cryptocurrency ecosystem reached $7.78 billion in activity in 2025.
  • RAKIA’s analysis concludes that the same crypto channels are being used to fund Iran‑backed proxy networks in Lebanon and Yemen and to move personal wealth abroad for regime‑connected figures.
  • The article situates the findings against a Jan. 30 U.S. Treasury sanctions action targeting Iran‑tied crypto exchanges for sanctions evasion linked to the IRGC.

📊 Relevant Data

US sanctions have contributed to a significant increase in poverty rates in Iran, with the national poverty rate reaching 30.4% in 2021, up from previous years due to economic pressures including inflation and unemployment.

Future Study of Factors Affecting Economic Poverty in Iran 2043 — The Open Public Health Journal

Poverty rates in Iran vary by province, with higher rates in ethnic minority-dominated areas; for example, 47% in Sistan and Baluchestan (predominantly Baluch) compared to the national average of 31% in 2020.

Absolute Poverty Rate in Iran by Province in 2020 — Iran Open Data

US sanctions led to an average annual reduction of 17 percentage points in the size of Iran's middle class from 2012 to 2019.

The effect of international sanctions on the size of the middle class in Iran — European Economic Review

The number of Iranian migrants increased at an annual rate of 3.8 percent from 1990 to 2020, with sanctions contributing to economic factors driving emigration.

International Sanctions and Labor Emigration: A Case Study of Iran — IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) controls well over half of the country's economic output.

Iran's economic woes expose regime's tight grip — DW.com

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