The latest announcement by the US that it will withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal has led to Iranians spending $2.5 billion on purchasing cryptocurrency.
Wow, I thought you were bullshitting, but that's no joke.
According to Yahoo Finance:
Iran has seen over $2.5 billion in capital outflows toward cryptocurrency purchases according to a senior government official while the central bank cools talk of a banking blockade on the sector.
That's incredible. All these years we've been saying that Bitcoin/cryptocurrency is way too small for effective capital flight and sanction dodging. Times sure are changing!
Also from that article:
According to Iranian publication Financial Tribune, the minister was quoted as stating: “The ban on trade of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin by CBI, as the financial and currency regulator of the country, is to prevent the flight of foreign currency under the current circumstances of the country.”
Although I wouldn't connect everything to sanctions and regional instability. I think Iranians were just participating in the 2017 speculative bubble like everyone else. Due to the banking ban, they had to use international exchanges, hence the capital flight.