- Iran cut internet access as nationwide protests spread, complicating digital payments and crypto use.
- About 7 million Iranians are estimated crypto users, per Statista.
- TRM Labs tracked roughly $3.7 billion in crypto flows in Iran from January to July 2025.
- Satellite, mesh and radio tools—such as Starlink, Blockstream satellites, and Bitchat—can move transaction data without standard internet, but final on-chain confirmation usually needs internet access.
- Experimental projects like Darkwire and Machankura aim to send Bitcoin via long-range radio or mobile networks; details and adoption remain limited.
Iranian authorities cut internet access on Thursday as protests over the economy and a plunging rial spread across the country, making cryptocurrency transactions far harder for residents. About 7 million people in Iran are estimated crypto users, according to Statista, and TRM Labs tracked roughly $3.7 billion in crypto flows there between January and July 2025.
Observers have suggested crypto as a potential store of value; outside figures such as the CEO of Bitwise have recommended buying Bitcoin for wealth preservation. At the same time, publicly available outage data shared by Cloudflare Radar documented the disruption to connectivity.
Several technologies could partially restore access or relay crypto data. Consumer satellite internet via Starlink can provide two-way connectivity, and activists have urged Elon Musk to deploy it as he did during a prior blackout in June 2025, as shown in his post. Blockstream operates a satellite network that broadcasts Bitcoin data globally without conventional internet links.
Peer-to-peer and mesh tools can move transaction details between nearby devices. Developers have used Bitchat, a Bluetooth mesh messaging service, to relay Bitcoin transaction data between phones; reporting on this method appears in a summary, and download metrics are visible on ChromeStats.
Other projects aim to bypass internet infrastructure. The long-range radio tool Darkwire was unveiled on GitHub and is undergoing major revisions. A 2022 solution named Machankura reportedly uses mobile telecom channels to send Bitcoin without internet, as detailed in a Forbes article and the project’s website. In all cases, at least one device with internet access is typically needed eventually to confirm transactions on-chain.
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