Central Bank of Iran
Iran's central bank; reporting 77.2% inflation, the highest since the 1942 wartime occupation.
Iran's central bank, Bank Markazi, reported 77.2% annual inflation for the year to 20 May 2026, the highest since the country's 1942 wartime occupation, as OFAC tightened sanctions culminating in a 14 July designation alongside roughly 28 tankers.
Last refreshed: 17 August 2026 · Appears in 3 active topics
Inflation at a wartime high, stablecoin rails closed: how does Iran finance daily life?
Timeline for Central Bank of Iran
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The Central Bank of Iran, known domestically as Bank Markazi Jomhouri Islami Iran, has been on the US Treasury's Specially Designated Nationals list since 2019, and was progressively cut off from SWIFT and dollar-clearing networks from 2012. That exclusion has driven the bank towards gold, barter and Cryptocurrency for international settlement.
As Iran's central monetary authority, it sets interest-rate and currency policy for an economy under sustained sanctions pressure, and its reserves, including funds held in Iraq, are a recurring point of dispute with foreign counterparts.
Mohammad Reza Farzin has governed the bank since 2024. Its exclusion from conventional dollar-clearing infrastructure means its policy tools increasingly run through channels, digital and informal, that Western regulators can also reach.
Bank Markazi loses its settlement routes
OFAC's sequential designations built a deliberate chokepoint strategy against Bank Markazi: the SDN listing since 2019, two TRON blockchain wallet addresses added on 24 April 2026, the first blockchain identifiers attached to an Iranian state institution in this conflict, then the 2 June sanctioning of the four crypto exchanges the bank had used to defend the rial via stablecoin rails, and finally the 14 July designation of the bank itself alongside roughly 28 tankers under wind-down General Licence Z.
Each step narrows the bank's remaining channels for international settlement, pushing it further towards gold, barter and Cryptocurrency, the same rails Treasury is now also cutting off.
What is Iran's inflation rate in 2026?
Why has the Iranian rial collapsed in 2026?
What sanctions does the US have on the Central Bank of Iran?
How has the Central Bank of Iran tried to evade US sanctions?
Why is Iran using cryptocurrency to move money?
Is it illegal to send money to the Central Bank of Iran's TRON wallets?
Why did OFAC add blockchain wallets to the Central Bank of Iran?
How long has the Central Bank of Iran been under US sanctions?
