Iran is reportedly moving toward a permanent two-tier internet system that would leave most users inside the closed National Information Network, while only approved entities retain access to the wider web. At the same time, crypto behavior inside the country is shifting: Chainalysis said Iran’s crypto ecosystem has reached $7.8 billion, with users increasingly withdrawing Bitcoin from exchanges into personal self-custody wallets.
Most users may be confined to a state-controlled domestic network
The source material says Iran entered an extreme digital blackout this month, with internet traffic falling close to zero for an extended period. According to Filterwatch, authorities plan to route national traffic through internal servers, leaving ordinary users dependent on monitored domestic messaging services, state-approved video platforms, and local financial systems. Access to the global internet would be limited to a whitelist that includes government bodies, state media, and some research institutions.
The same framework would tighten existing workarounds. The report says VPN-based access may no longer be effective, while interference against Starlink signals has been raised to 80%. Inside companies, domestic messaging apps would only be allowed limited use after high-level security approval, and communication would be restricted to internal team channels, with peer-to-peer traffic outside organizational networks blocked.
Internet controls deepen under continuing political pressure
The report links the communications clampdown to the country’s ongoing unrest. It says protests that began in late 2025 are still continuing, with the death toll reported at more than 3,000, while some accounts put the number much higher. Iranian human rights groups say the broader suppression campaign is being paired with long-term internet isolation to reduce the flow of protest footage and data beyond the country’s borders.
The social cost is already visible. More than half of Iran’s population is under 35, and younger users have long relied on tools such as WhatsApp for business and everyday communication. A forced move to domestic platforms could hit academic research, cross-border collaboration, and commercial activity at the same time. The source quotes a student in Tehran saying that even searching for academic papers has become difficult, let alone working with founders abroad.
Bitcoin withdrawals point to a move toward self-custody
As pressure on the rial intensifies, Bitcoin is being used more often as a route for preserving and moving value. In its latest report, Chainalysis said Iranian users have been withdrawing Bitcoin from exchanges into unhosted personal wallets at scale, calling that on-chain pattern the clearest signal of current conditions. The report described the shift as a rational response to the collapse in the rial’s value and referred to Bitcoin as an “element of resistance.”
That trend reflects Bitcoin’s censorship-resistant design. For users operating under tighter economic controls, self-custody can preserve flexibility over liquidity and asset allocation. But the country’s crypto market is not driven only by private users. Chainalysis also said addresses linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps received more than $3 billion in crypto last year, accounting for 50% of the broader ecosystem in the fourth quarter of 2025.