Crypto Exchanges Are Suddenly Being Censored In Iran

That's how one Iranian bitcoin advocate, speaking on condition of anonymity, described a new wave of government censorship that has cut Iranians off from vital links to the crypto economy ahead of a scheduled renewal of U.S. sanctions in August and November.

Several Iranians exclusively told CoinDesk they are having trouble accessing crypto exchanges like Binance, Blockchain and LocalBitcoins, even with virtual private networks and other workarounds that were already commonplace because of international sanctions.

"Many people are using it [bitcoin] as a hedge instrument because buying BTC is easier than going into the black market to buy yourself US dollars," said the Iranian source, a cryptocurrency veteran with deep ties across Tehran's startup scene.

" doesn't want Iranians to transfer foreign currency, especially dollars, outside the country," said Ahmad Khalid Majidyar, director of IranObserved Project at the Middle East Institute, a think tank in Washington D.C. that offers non-partisan political analysis.

Most experts agree that the current economic crisis, one tied to international relations, has spurred Iranian authorities to seek strict controls on cryptocurrency.

The Iranian Financial Tribune reported Mohammad Reza Pourebrahimi, head of the parliament's economic committee, warned crypto traders could harm the Iranian economy if they continued to spend billions through international marketplaces.

According to a second anonymous source in Iran it appears as though government censors are now examining network traffic via a process called "Deep packet inspection"- a tactic Iranian authorities used in the past- to restrict VPN access to crypto platforms.

An Iranian tech blog reported Binance told one concerned user of the exchange platform that it has no plans to restrict regional services.

The second anonymous source said buying and selling cryptocurrency with Iranian rials is forbidden, although people still trade with each other in person.

Still, others think Rohani, Jahromi and other Iranian moderates may be mirroring the "Blockchain not bitcoin" sentiment popular among traditional institutions abroad. "Of course, it would be subject to the same sanctions," the Middle East Institute's Majidyar said.