Bitcoin Loans

Bitcoin’s global network continues to function normally while Iran experiences a severe nationwide internet blackout that is disrupting local crypto usage and some mining activity, but not threatening Bitcoin’s overall operation. The situation is instead highlighting both Bitcoin’s resilience to regional shutdowns and the practical limits of using it under heavy censorship and connectivity cuts.

Iran’s internet blackout

• On 8 January 2026, Iran imposed a near‑total internet shutdown amid escalating anti‑government protests, cutting most of the country off from external communication. Monitoring groups report traffic dropping to around 1% of normal levels, affecting mobile and fixed‑line networks as well as many phone services. 
• Authorities have also moved to jam satellite connectivity such as Starlink, producing estimated packet loss of 30–80% for users in some regions and further limiting digital communications. 

Impact on Bitcoin use in Iran

• The blackout has effectively blocked online transactions for millions of Iranian crypto users; one industry estimate puts the affected population at roughly 7 million people who rely on internet‑based wallets and exchanges. From January to July 2025, crypto transaction volume linked to Iran was about 3.7 billion dollars, underscoring how many economic activities are now constrained. 
• With banking pressure and a weakening rial, many Iranians had turned to Bitcoin and other digital assets as a value store or for cross‑border transfers, but the current shutdown severely limits their ability to move funds or access centralized platforms in real time. 

Effect on Iranian Bitcoin mining

• Iran has been a low single‑digit contributor to global Bitcoin hashrate, down from much higher levels earlier in the decade due to crackdowns and regulatory swings. Cheap, subsidized energy made the country attractive for miners, but sanctions, raids, and periodic forced shutdowns have already pushed much of the activity underground or out of the country. 
• The current connectivity crisis raises operational costs and downtime for miners in Iran—pool coordination, payouts, and firmware updates become harder—but analysts estimate that even a full Iranian outage would remove less than 5% of global hashrate, a level the network can absorb via difficulty adjustment without destabilization. 

Bitcoin network resilience

• Bitcoin is designed so that mining power is globally distributed; it survived China’s 2021 mining ban, which removed over 40% of hashrate at the time, without halting block production or invalidating funds. In comparison, Iran’s share today is much smaller, so its outage is structurally manageable for the protocol even if locally painful. 
• When regional hashrate drops, the protocol’s difficulty retargeting gradually lowers the computational threshold needed to mine blocks, helping keep average block times near ten minutes and preserving the security and continuity of the chain. 

Offline and censorship‑resistant Bitcoin tools

• Iran’s shutdown has driven renewed interest in “offline‑first” or low‑connectivity Bitcoin tools such as SMS‑based services, mesh networks, and satellite relays (for example, solutions built on Blockstream’s satellite network), which can help users construct and relay transactions with minimal or intermittent internet. These systems still ultimately require some connection to reach the global network, but they can reduce dependency on local ISPs and state‑controlled infrastructure. 
• Crypto industry reports mention platforms and protocols that try to bridge connectivity gaps—ranging from satellite‑fed nodes to specialized messaging apps for signing and forwarding transactions—as part of a broader push to keep Bitcoin usable in high‑censorship environments like Iran.

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