Topic: Who is buying Bitcoin in Iran? (Read 744 times)

And in addition, Gold might be captured and be taken away, unlike bitcoin, it is easy to carry around like a USB stick, and most of all, it is secured and could be there no matter where you are around the globe. With such issues concerning war, we might experience inflation rate because of high demand for goods, but what is profitable are the investment platforms because of the fear by people to save their assets.

In this case, it could be considered the main reason for now, on why bitcoin is acting bullish.

If world war 3 is inevitable then bitcoin is the best option to preserve your wealth but still there is a risk if you want to put your money in any currencies that you like.

Will the remaining people after world war 3 still accepts and exchange crypto currencies via fiat and vice versa. And in terms of 2.5billlion dollars transfer, does it happen after the incident that outrage the people of Iran or it is the total output from the start they accept bitcoin exchange.

Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis were killed in a US air strike on January 3, 2020 near Baghdad International Airport . The air strike was a retaliation to the attack on the US Embassy in Baghdad allegedly carried out by Iran-backed militias .
His death was confirmed by high-ranking US Department of Defense officials

Not available for arbitrage between bitcoin in Iran and bitcoin global I think there are only buy with Iranian, not other people available for buying Iranian bitcoin because price is different from bitcoin global price, but how Iranian want to buy bitcoin with higher price and other global exchange market have lower price than in Iranian exchange market, why not buy with global exchange only.

I think Iranian scare that the economy might collapse once the war with US begin so they want to use Bitcoin instead, or might be the governments want to buy more weapons.

I think we are just stretching this issue too much just like coin halving was stretched few days back. What bitcoin will do to Iranian people if there is war between USA and IRAN? Iranians have better alternate to bitcoin like buying gold or investing in oil. Even in USA people who own bitcoins are only 6.2% and this ratio is much less in countries like Iran.

I think that in the event of a war in Iran, the easiest way to hide assets and eliminate their loss is to hide them on the internet. It is better to send BTC to an account on Coinbase, for example, rather than risk requisitioning assets for the purposes of subsidizing the army. Even if the BTC price is twice as high there, it is better to lose half than everything. Unfortunately, but during armed conflicts, the law does not protect citizens.

It is actually induced the rates of Bitcoin & cryptocurrencies to surge, with Bitcoin pumping five % from the week's decreased around $6,850. Various other cryptocurrencies pumped alongside the top cryptocurrency by market cap, like Litecoin and also Monero.

While some crypto investors may be purchasing up the asset type fearing that any upcoming war or even continued feud between the 2 countries may be the straw which breaks the camel's returned when it involves the already fragile global economy, people of Iran may be prepared to shell out a hefty premium to purchase Bitcoin, according to rumors spreading the cryptosphere.

The present cost of Bitcoin in Iranian rial? the county's indigenous fiat currency? is just?305,435,985, nonetheless, rates on LocalBitcoins? a peer-to-peer industry for Bitcoin? are supposedly reaching almost as three times that amount for only one BTC. Prices are believed to be going as excessive as more than?1,000,000,000.

The already war torn country's native currency continues to be in a death spiral during the last forty or perhaps so many years, with inflation devaluing the rial considerably during the last several years. Iranian citizens fearing that virtually any conflict or battle between Iran and also the US might further devalue the indigenous currency may be to blame for the whopping priced premium in Bitcoin. load more....

People in Iran are scared of another round of economic sanctions from the USA as the old Persia nation keeps threatening the USA, should this happen, the sanctions may as well cripple the economic of the Iranians. So for a safe haven and to preserve their wealth, the few wealthy wise are taking refuse in bitcoin.

It's not incorrect, especially if all people are doing is just converting their cash to bitcoin just so they can bypass restrictions so they can easily send it somewhere then cash out back to whatever fiat currency they want then all bitcoin has played a part in is transferring wealth. Not necessarily a bad thing as people are still transacting with bitcoin which is good, but if the money only technically stays in bitcoin temporarily then people aren't using is as a store of value/wealth, which still would be risky for them given bitcoin's volatility.

It might be people trying to get their funds in a secure place for any unforeseen circumstance that can come up due to recent airstrike. Leaving your money in bank might be a risk in a time like this in Iran. It might also be Government performing the money laundering, who knows. But all in all, Bitcoin is a save heaven for the rich and the poor.

Ok, that's true... but there's a "but"

Why would they choose Bitcoin instead of buying a currency belonging to one of the country far away from the war zone? Switzerland, Japan, Great Britain are going to be fine and strong as ever. Even the USD could go up in value because the war machine will power the economy and the war will be happening far away from all the factories and corporations.

War is a great danger. People buy gold during wartime. But how to carry a huge amount of gold. Bitcoin transfer is much easier. Bitcoin may be preferred in such cases. War is a bad thing, I hope not. Demand for Bitcoin may increase.

Maybe mainly the rich. They are the ones that need to store their wealth somewhere and bitcoin is the best thing to store their wealth. But alas, I do not think it will have a global effect on the price of bitcoin.


We cannot really be sure but I have seen in the media that they are taking the attack as an attack to the Muslim. If this is true then it could ignite the ww3.

yes, indeed bitcoin digital currency that can be used by anyone with even the Iran nation buying bitcoin and also can buy war equipment for trade between countries Iran was a tactic to buy bitcoin to enable them to buy weapons of war to easily make a transaction using bitcoin.

War begins with two countries trying to fight, due to their relationship to other countries or their so-called allies that might give help to them (to US and Iran) which might cause world war 3. But what you have said is right, the world is already matured enough to prevent war, but it is not impossible. We just can't remove the possible things to happen.

What's up with this Iran issue and people relating it towards world war III? The entire world is matured for world war to happen again. You people should stop making unnecessary posts regarding the idea that this Iran issue might  cause world war III.  

AFAIK, Iranian just can sell their bitcoin using localbitcoins, many exchange blocked by government in this country. So, if people not believe in USD anymore, using Bitcoin is kne of solution for people to save their asset.

About the price, anyone can set buy and sell as they want, if someone decide to buy even on high price, this buyer of course have a reason such as many people will follow to sell bitcoin higher, even this is just a speculation there. I don't think we can find a reason why iranian buy/sell bitcoin with $24K+ rates until someone know who the wallet owner.

I think there are only available for Iran people and transaction of bitcoin only there, if available for every one can buy and sell bitcoin with other country many people buy bitcoin with lower price on other exchange and sell with Iran bitcoin exchange account because have higher price, there are have big reason why Iran have different price bitcoin from other country, whats going on?

It seems that my OP was based on a misunderstanding. As somebody pointed out,the publicised pst is based on the "official" rate of exchange, which is only available to an elite group. The everyday exchange rate is much closer to the globalrate. This video from Altcoin Daily gives an explanation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWYQajKww9A&t=495s

There is an interesting report towards the end of the video. It woud seem that Burger King is accepting Bitcoin in 40 of its branches in Venezuela. This could be a trend in countries with economic problems.

I think what they are thinking about is how to save their real assets such as gold and fiat money, so they are looking for alternative ways to buy bitcoin and store it overseas so they don't worry about their assets in digital form like bitcoin, I think bitcoin is the only alternative to protect the value and assets of war, hope there is an effect of the price of bitcoin on other exchanges

Perhaps the people and major economic organizations in Iran are scared of World War 3 and they are rushing to buy bitcoins to ensure financial security, and I was really surprised that the price of bitcoin in Iran is three times higher than that of the global market. They fear that Iranian currency will be seriously affected by this conflict.
I hope World War 3 will never explode because it will cause great damage to the world and this market.

Yes, if the third world war took place bitcoin would be the best replacement money. If anyone wants to move their assets away from a war, then bitcoin is a great choice.
Shortly after the United States ended the attack there was much fear about a war and there are sources of reports that in Iran bitcoin has risen to $ 25,000.

Bitcoin will indeed not play a role as a substitute for their country's currency but bitcoin is played by individuals there to rescue their assets. When a war breaks out, access to their finances may be impossible, they try to save everything before something worse happens. Yeah this will lead opinion further from other countries as well, hopefully everything will be fine.

War always hurt normal people who just wanna live happily with there families. War only benefits pharma, weapon producing companies, oil companies (in case of Iraq war) and not to forget politicians. Let peace prevail and no war. We have already seen so many wars and dont think we are in position to bear another war.   

in transactions we cannot really find out in detail because everyone can be anonymous here. but if you want to know in detail, maybe the information can be known from the exchanges that do KYC but every exchange must secure the data of users who make transactions therein

Yep, the only thing we can do is to make assumptions of who'm transaction can this be. So far I think it is from someone in the government or maybe someone anonymous who's actually trying to hide and protect his fortune using bitcoin.

To be honest, we never know who bought bitcoin there because there is no valid information so far, only assumptions.
In addition, we cannot detect who the buyer is through proof of transaction because it is anonymous.

In my opinion, those who buy bitcoin in iran are rich people who want to protect their wealth, now the situation in Iran is not conducive.
So it is too risky if their wealth is deposited in a bank or in fiat form. So rich people in Iran choose bitcoin to save their wealth. And who
buys bitcoin in iran can also be the iran government itself, with the intention of protecting the country's finances and bought a number of
weapons in preparation for the fight against America. I hope the situation in Iran is getting colder and between Iran and America can make
peace. Because peace is better.

The only people in iran that are able to buy bitcoin are wealthy or rich people because they will store all of their money, so that they could preserve and save their money in the future until the war between US and Iran was finished. Also, the government would also buy bitcoin to store their money too.

It can be the richest, the government or just regular or middleclass people in Iran. We all know the situation there all people are looking for ways to protect their money and I understand their choice to buy bitcoins if they are really converting their wealth to bitcoin at this moment. Crisis leavs peope with no choice but to preserve all money they can. But one thing is for sure people buying bitcoins at very high rate is not for invetment but to preserve their money.

That is one good way to transfer a huge amount of money through btc because if they had it over the banks they might get interfered as the situation of Iran and US is getting ugly. Btc will be recognized as a store of wealth once world war 3 is going to happen. Paper money is not safe not even the banks in storing the wealth.

That is true but Iran might decide to strike back US and that might even mean begininig of world war.
Anyway, any war activities might effect economy in Iran but I don't think that Bitcoin could play any role in that and the state will definetely not turn to Bitcoin, maybe only some individuals.

We know that Iran could buy them kind bitcoin but we don't know their motives in bitcoin are they just recognized bitcoin in away.
Still, this kind of move could also be part of the war maybe there are trying to attack the economy having a big percentage of bitcoin might affect the economy.

What I'm wondering is that BTC is ban in IRAN why is there people selling BTC on localbitcoin which as far as I know their LBC account has to be linked to a bank account in the country. It would make sense if its the government who are buying the coins and then there are these people who grab the opportunity to sell due to high price.

I do really wonder how this could impact the worlds market price of bitcoin because if the only person buying the most and the high price of bitcoin could just be located at iran, it will not impact the worlds market price that could be observed at the CMC, though I do believe that many people will take this as an opportunity to buy more bitcoin because of the tension and the possibilities that a domino effect could happen. In which people around the world even those that aren't living in Iran or US are accumulating because of the tension.

Sir i did not get any authountic link here that MD. Reza Pourebrahimi has stated more than $2.5 billion has been transferred out of the country via BTC. Actually many things can happen in 2020 year. All big financial giant country now looking digital currency through block chain because its easy transfer and no documentation. So no doubt that in near future digital currency will be best for financial correspondence.

actually I'm also curious, who are the people who buy bitcoin at a very high price, can they not buy bitcoin at binance or other markets at much cheaper prices? I was really curious about how they sold. other than that, this might have something to do with the problem that is currently happening, and I think that they started doing transactions using crypto.

You were right about this, but still missing. When the local price of bitcoin rises too much, this means that they accept losing a large amount of money. The discrepancy between local prices and worldwide prices is a cause for their loss. In other words, it is the amount of damage they have to accept to own bitcoin. I am not sure if their actions are correct, this amount may be even greater than the amount lost due to inflation during the war. But in return, they have safety when they can use the money worldwide.

$2.5 billion is a lot of money that was been transferred in a  short period of time and surely it is the wealthier family that preserving their wealth in case the war go forward,the question is in what countries they are putting the amount?anyway this is a serious issue because both Iraq and Iran is now in the situation considering they are both one of the biggest supplier of Oil in the world.if the war go further for sure the effect in cryptoworld will take place.but for those who has a chance to buy bitcoin in local market must accumulate and take this as an advantage to buy more and keep holding until the issue settled.

If i were to guess, these are traders taking advantage of the situation. Of course there are also people trying to preserve their money, and if the Iranian government is doing it, it would be an incredible precedent. Trump might find an excuse to hate Bitcoin even more.

Most Venezuelans were already poor once hyperinflation "hit", those large movements are from traders many of which don't even live in the country. So i can safely guess the same thing is happening in Iran. Sometimes foreigners rent bank accounts from locals for their trades. And yes, distortions often cause incredible local spikes in price, which would let you make a lot of money if you have the needed connections. ie: a bank account in the country, knowledge of local rules (bank limits), local contact etc. Yes there could be some rich people too, and some gov people its a free market after all. That's the beauty of a State-less economy.

Please note that its actually incorrect to say money is getting in or out certain physical place. If it becomes bitcoin, it is bitcoin everywhere. Bitcoin is border-less, once you change your country's fiat into Bitcoin, you have gained a worldwide asset. So rather than saying the money leaves Iran, you could say the money enters Bitcoin. It can still be used inside Iran at any moment, unlike doing the same with forex or some foreign bank account. The difference is huge if you stop to think about it...

Iranians buying bitcoin are not really taking the money out of the country, but they are saving it from both the country (Iranian State) and the potential aggressor/invader (see the military command economy they imposed to Germans after the fall of the 3rd Reich). This is one more reason why Bitcoin is so valuable rather than some physical asset that could be seized or destroyed, or a fiat that could lose all value overnight.

Exactly, the war started by the US and they know that Iran can’t handle their power and yet, they are trying to get Iran through the war, well this has been a war for a decade and nothing new about the US power. Anyway, the price of bitcoin in Iran is really big but i think people buy bitcoin so their money will not depreciate that much, it looks like bitcoin is a safe place during a war. I just hope that this war will end soon.

if they are moving their money out of the country that means these people buying BTC is looking for somewhere safe where there will be no war.  but buying at the current price on their localbitcoin seem too much. and so its definitely just the rich that can afford at such price.

i would probably watch the news everyday from now on to see what will happen. i hope the tension calm down before Iran decide which route to go.

It certainly looks like people in Iran are moving wealth.
on the upside this is a prime example of one of the uses of Bitcoin (and crypto)

on the downside if the situation between the U.S and Iran escilates there will be
LOSS OF LIFE, that superseeds everything.

such a pity that we are entering another hostile situation, can we not learn from
the past?

Holding Bitcoin, gold and silver coins won't help you if you are nuked. However, if your economy tanks, or the US decides to sanction your country, then having made good prepping plans can help you through the transition.

no idea who is buying but if the price is 3 times the market , they are crazy to be doing it
and I certainly don't think we are creeping towards World War 3 , even the thought of it makes me cringe
who will care about the markets , bitcoins and whatnot when your home is destroyed by a bomb or a nuclear strike?
nothing matters then , hope the politicians cool their stupid heads and won't let this escalate further

don't get too excited. iranian localbitcoins volume has hit rock bottom the past few weeks. https://coin.dance/volume/localbitcoins/IRR/BTC

according to this report, these claims about skyrocketing price are bogus too. they are based on the central bank's official USD exchange rate, which is inflating the BTC/USD exchange rate. spot prices in iran apparently actually reflect the global market:

It is the US that is trying to go to war with Iran. This latest even is an act of war by the US, and is not based on any proven action by Iran.

I go with the first premise. Demand is surely surging and here is the link to that news https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-selling-for-24-000-per-btc-in-iran-as-us-tensions-escalate

Many people see Bitcoin as a safe Haven, especially when the dollar is in doubt or in crises. If the rich don't want to stock their cash in the JPY or CHF, Bitcoin certainly provides them an alternative, especially when they know it's internet money and can be accessed from anywhere in the world. The heat is already on in Iran.. Their economy may be in shambles if they decide to go to war with the US.

Its possible but it would be too late for that. They must have figured this will happen long time ago since Gaddafi and the rest, they must had purchased weapons long time ago. If the government are the ones buying BTC, this wouldn't be for weapons but to save the economy just like wealthy Iranian businessmen too afraid to lose their money when economy collapse. 

This could be another use case for bitcoin if ever there's a conflict between Iran and USA.

Censor resistant BTC could be the only way that rich and wealthy Iranian can bring their money out of the country. I don't think that Iranians are going to use bitcoin for every day purchase though, I'm not really sure if there are stores that are going to accept bitcoin as mode of payment. So most probably, the rich and elite are going to bitcoin or crypto to hedge.

But i think some possibility to happen WWIII and because IRAN already try to two rocket attacked at US Embassy in Baghdad start to the decade folks!
Cryptocurrency is illegal in IRAN so how third party can be monitor in any transactions. But 2.5 billion dollar transfer means huge number of amount as per as IRAN.

That's such a huge amount and i am wondering for what purpose are they really purchasing these bitcoins for? Are they planning to purchase some illegal weapons to fight the US. I don't think this would lead to war, i expect the international peace keeping bodies to step into this situation before things go downside to create a whole lot of unrest in these countries. We need peace!

I doubt Iranians are buying bitcoin just to spend it.  Their currency isn't in trouble as far as I know, so I don't know why bitcoin would be needed for purchases. 

They're sending bitcoin out of the country?  Is there a mass exodus of Iranians happening or what?  Where are they sending their bitcoin to?  It would make sense that people would use bitcoin for cross-border transfers, since that can be done relatively anonymously, but I'm wondering what the purpose is for doing so.

And as I wrote in a couple other threads dealing with this situation, I'm very much hoping WWIII doesn't get kicked off here.  I don't know what the hell Trump is thinking, but I don't think like a psychopath so I'm at a disadvantage.

And the 'real' exchange rate is several times lower than the official one. Do the math and it's probably in line with most other places. Same goes for anywhere else with a joke economy. Every time something gets worse for Iran the exchange rate agreed on between actual people drifts further away from what the government is claiming.

Ali Khamenei has set a time of mourning for three days, and then has claimed for strong retaliation, it looks like you are right. but maybe the dominance of bitcoin purchases was carried out by Iranian businessmen and investors in panic because they realized this would have a bad impact on the national economy, if it really happened then it would probably be worse than Venezuela.

Lol, I don't think there will be world war 3 but yeah I would love to see Iranians buying crypto but spending it in Iran tonadopt the currency and parallel use the traditional currency as well to make the economy stronger and transactions with privacy so that no third party country can monitor its transactions.

This is mote complicated to understand than we think because Iran is closed knit country and it's really difficult to know what's the ground reality because there are possibilities that Iranian businesses can use bitcoin as a payment method for trade I mean illegal trades due to the existing sanctions and as yes we expected for price dump during new year which did not happen so there are possibilities that whales are holding upto to Bitcoin.

We know what have been said about Bitcoin and it anonymity. Iranians businessman and women would be looking to convert their fiats into digital currency most especially into bitcoin. Although, this can also be the government move to secure some good position before the US government will clap down on them at last. This move from the government should be applaud because it will help them prepare tactically.

Bitcoiners should get ready for a boom if the fight will escalate later according the some medias. Meanwhile, US government should know that; the end of USD has finally come and not to be a business as usual when they forcefully go into war with countries just to get more USD for their economy.

He wasn't the head of the military. He was the long term head of a covert operations division of the military, and had no executive powers over national military decisions. He was also the leader of the attacks on ISIS and Daish - the terrorists groups promoted and armed by John Bolton, and the US.

Probably government itself using bitcoin to buy weapons in other countries and some rich people reserve their money into Bitcoin because it is safe to store wealth. Based on this statement on the article,
"Bitcoin is trading at nearly $24,000 in the USD equivalent of Iranian Rials on LocalBitcoins today. It's unlikely those purchases are paying for the Iranian military's response. Instead, it might be innocent (and desperate) Iranians looking for a way out of the coming chaos." source: .
That was clear that the government of Iran is preparing for possible retaliation.

It could just be average citizens afraid that their local currency is going to tank because of possible war or economic sanctions. From what I remember from Venezuela there was a lot of regular citizens buying up bitcoin when their economy went tits up after hyperinflation set in. Maybe people in Iran are just using bitcoin to easily get their money out of the country as I'm sure it's much easier to do than the other cash alternatives which I'm sure a lot of them have already been restricted by the US.


The media was basically kind of saying that's he's essentially the second most powerful man in Iran, but not sure how accurate that is. I guess being the head of the military is a powerful position but it's not like it's just one step down from the president.

That's also what I'm thinking, they know that Bitcoin is easy to transfer and they can protect their wealth instead of putting it in a bank just like what the people in Hongkong experienced, all they need is a ledger wallet or something that housed their private key, but I just hope the situation will not worsen and will not escalate to war.

Its not what they worry as for now but the wealth to be secure and safety of their lives. War can take years and years before it ends so keeping it in BTC makes sense.
But $2.5B in just a day, certainly these buyers are very much in panic. I really think this won't end to WW3, there is just too much to lose for Iran since they aren't that equipped to go war.

Exactly, it can do things like that, but it always comes with risks. If you transfer most of your wealth to Bitcoin, it's like a venture capital investment. You do not know how much your money is in the future, it will depend on the value of bitcoin. What would happen if Bitcoin dropped more, even $ 3,000 per bitcoin? You lose more than half of your money, terrible! But anyway, it's better than anything else when war breaks out.

I feel very sad for normal people in Iran whose intention is to survive everyday by working and doing business, it just makes me sad knowing that they are the primary people who would suffer from the risk of threatening world war especially the young ones who does not know what is going on. It is not about crypto anymore but the humanity as a whole.

Is that true? I thought that he was the public head of a covert operations section, and not that important. They seem to have replaced him pretty quickly, and expanded the department, so it looks as if once again the US has shot itself in the foot. It was an orchestrated move according to John Bolton, and not the preemptive strike that the media reports. In fact it was really the murder of a diplomat attending a planned and well reported meeting in a foreign sovereign state, and many see it as yet another example of US terrorism.

Bitcoin will serve as a means of preserving and transmitting value. During warfare, it is more flexible and versatile than fiat money and bank accounts. It can not be stopped by the statement

They might move a big bunch of Bitcoin out of the country due to last actions by USA against them ? I know that the second most important man of Iran, just died yesterday in that attack and I'm sure more will follow and I don't know what IRAN did to upset USA this big. Right now, their national currency+reserve is in big trouble alongside economy so that transaction could be the Government moving the asset into other wallet.

After that use of lethal force by the US they have to be scared of an incoming conflict and we all know who gets hurt the most in these things. It's not the military or the politicians but the local people who just want to run their businesses and drive kids to school. I bet it's the business owners trying to protect themselves from an eventual bank run.

It might be Iranian government also. You can't deny that, may be the super wealthy people trying to take out their money with Bitcoin. I guess the people who are trying to sell may be in a loss if they get the payment in Iranian rials.

Apparently the price has trebled on the local Bitcoins market. So is it rich people trying to preserve their wealth, or is it people using it for everyday purchases? Mohammad Reza Pourebrahimi, chairman of Iran’s economic commission, has stated that more than $2.5 billion has been transferred out of the country via Bitcoin. Will this be the primary function of Bitcoin as we creep towards World War 3?