Iran crisis puts the regime's $7.8 billion crypto shadow economy in spotlight

The government relies on this crypto infrastructure for international trade, while ordinary Iranians use it as a financial lifeline during protests and economic crises. What to know : Iran has built a multibillion-dollar parallel economy using state-sponsored Bitcoin mining and stablecoins to bypass the U.S. dollar, heavily driven by the IRGC. The government relies on this crypto infrastructure for international trade, while ordinary Iranians use it as a financial lifeline during protests and economic crises. Recent military strikes threaten Iran's fragile power grid, which is essential to sustaining the energy-intensive mining operations that keep this financial channel open.