Internet access in Iran was once again severed by the government on Thursday as widespread protests escalated across the Middle Eastern nation, plunging millions into digital darkness and immediately raising a critical question for its burgeoning digital asset community: Can its citizens still access and use cryptocurrency? This drastic measure, echoing past crackdowns, underscores the escalating tension between authorities and a population grappling with profound economic hardship and a crumbling national currency.

The decision to cut internet access comes amidst a wave of protests ignited by worsening economic conditions and the Iranian rial’s precipitous fall to record lows against the US dollar. For many Iranians, cryptocurrency, particularly Bitcoin, has transitioned from a niche interest to a vital lifeline—a means to preserve wealth, bypass international sanctions, and access global financial markets otherwise closed to them. Statista estimates a significant adoption rate, with around seven million people, out of the country’s 92 million population, identified as crypto users. This substantial user base highlights the critical role digital assets play in the daily lives and financial strategies of a significant portion of the populace. The scale of this financial activity is further illuminated by data from TRM Labs, which tracked roughly $3.7 billion in total crypto flows in Iran between January and July 2025 alone, indicating a robust and active ecosystem.

The immediate consequence of the internet shutdown is a profound disruption to this ecosystem. Conventional cryptocurrency transactions, by their very nature, rely heavily on constant internet connectivity. To send or receive crypto, a user’s wallet needs to communicate with the broader network, broadcasting transactions to nodes that then verify and add them to the blockchain. Without this digital lifeline, the ability to initiate, confirm, or even monitor transactions becomes severely impaired, if not impossible through traditional means. The Iranian rial’s collapse has already led external observers, such as Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley, to suggest buying Bitcoin as a viable solution for wealth preservation, a sentiment widely shared within Iran. However, the internet blackout threatens to render even this fundamental strategy inaccessible. The government’s move effectively creates a digital wall, isolating its citizens from global information flows and, crucially, from the decentralized financial networks they have increasingly come to rely on.

Options for Crypto Without Internet

Despite the grim reality of an internet blackout, the ingenuity of the crypto and decentralized technology community has yielded several potential solutions that could, to varying degrees, enable Iranians to continue transacting with cryptocurrency. While none offer a perfect, seamless replacement for unrestricted internet access, they present pathways for resilience in the face of state-imposed censorship.

Starlink: The Satellite Lifeline

Perhaps the most prominent and high-profile solution is Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet service. Starlink operates a constellation of thousands of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, designed to provide high-speed, low-latency internet access to remote or underserved areas. Unlike traditional internet infrastructure, Starlink bypasses local ground networks, making it significantly harder for governments to control or shut down. Users connect via a dedicated dish, which communicates directly with the satellites, relaying data globally via inter-satellite laser links and ground stations located outside the affected country.

Musk has a history of deploying Starlink in regions experiencing internet blackouts, notably during a previous shutdown in Iran in June 2025. Following the current outage, there have been renewed calls for him to reactivate and expand Starlink access in the country, with unconfirmed reports even claiming that Musk has quietly granted the request. If true, this could provide a crucial conduit for Iranians to regain internet access, thereby restoring their ability to engage with the crypto network. However, challenges remain: acquiring the Starlink dishes, their cost, the logistics of distribution within a sanctioned and surveilled state, and the potential for government interference or jamming all pose significant hurdles. Yet, for those who can access it, Starlink represents the most direct path to restoring full internet functionality.

Blockstream Satellite: Bitcoin Data from Space

A more specialized solution comes from Bitcoin infrastructure company Blockstream, which operates a satellite network capable of broadcasting the entire Bitcoin blockchain data anywhere in the world without requiring terrestrial internet. This technology is distinct from Starlink in its purpose: it doesn’t provide general internet access but specifically broadcasts Bitcoin transaction data and the blockchain ledger.

For crypto users in Iran, Blockstream Satellite offers a crucial one-way channel. While it doesn’t allow users to send new transactions to the network (as that requires an internet uplink), it enables them to receive and verify the current state of the Bitcoin blockchain. This means users can check if a transaction sent by someone else has been confirmed, monitor their cold storage balances, and stay updated on network activity. In a scenario where all outbound internet is cut, this one-way broadcast ensures that users can at least verify the integrity and current state of their holdings, offering a degree of transparency and security that would otherwise be impossible. It’s a powerful tool for maintaining trust and awareness in a zero-internet environment, even if it doesn’t solve the problem of initiating new transactions.

Bitchat: Mesh Networking for Transaction Relay

Jack Dorsey’s decentralized peer-to-peer messaging service, Bitchat, offers an intriguing, albeit limited, solution by leveraging Bluetooth mesh networking. Bitchat allows users to send messages directly between phones using short-range Bluetooth signals, creating a network where devices relay messages to each other without needing central servers or internet access. Crucially, some clever users have discovered that this technology can also facilitate the transfer of signed Bitcoin transaction data between phones.

In an internet-deprived environment, Bitchat could allow users to create and digitally sign a Bitcoin transaction on their phone, then relay that signed transaction data to another phone nearby, which could then pass it to another, and so on. This creates a chain of communication for transaction data. The significant caveat, however, is that "eventually a device with internet is required before it can be confirmed on-chain." This means Bitchat serves as an offline relay mechanism, not an offline broadcast mechanism. The transaction data must ultimately reach a device that does have internet access (e.g., via a Starlink dish or a brief, intermittent connection) to be submitted to the global Bitcoin network and confirmed. Despite this limitation, Bitchat’s adoption numbers—over 1.4 million downloads since launch, with a notable surge of 19,828 in the last day and over 460,724 in the last week—demonstrate its potential for grassroots, ad-hoc communication and, by extension, transaction relay in censored environments.

Other Tools in Development for Offline Crypto Use

The challenges posed by internet shutdowns have spurred significant innovation, leading to several other promising tools currently in development, aiming to enhance offline crypto usability.

Darkwire: Long-Range Radio for Decentralized Data

Unveiled by its pseudonymous creator Cyb3r17 in May 2025, Darkwire is a tool designed to create a decentralized mesh network using long-range radio technology (potentially LoRaWAN, though specifics vary). Its purpose is to send data, including Bitcoin transactions, without relying on the internet. Similar to Bitchat, Darkwire establishes a network of devices that can communicate over greater distances than Bluetooth, potentially allowing for more robust and wider-reaching offline data transmission.

Like Blockstream Satellite and Bitchat, Darkwire currently shares a crucial limitation: a device within the network eventually needs an internet connection for the transaction to be verified and added to the blockchain. While it extends the reach and efficiency of offline data relay, the final step of on-chain confirmation still requires an internet "exit point." Darkwire is currently listed on GitHub as undergoing a major rewrite, indicating active development and a commitment to refining its capabilities.

Machankura: SMS-Based Bitcoin for Feature Phones

In 2022, South African software developer Kgothatso Ngako created a truly innovative solution known as Machankura. This tool allows users to send and receive Bitcoin using even basic feature phones, entirely without an internet connection, by leveraging existing mobile telecom networks. As reported by Forbes in March 2023 and detailed on the project’s website, Machankura utilizes Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) and SMS protocols.

Users interact with a service by dialing a specific shortcode, much like checking a mobile balance. This interaction sends commands to a centralized service provider that then executes Bitcoin transactions on behalf of the user. This approach is particularly groundbreaking because it caters to regions with low internet penetration but widespread mobile phone usage, effectively bridging the gap for millions. While Machankura offers remarkable accessibility, it does introduce a degree of centralization, as users rely on the service provider to manage their Bitcoin and execute transactions. Furthermore, its functionality is dependent on the stability and availability of the underlying mobile telecom network, which itself could be subject to government control or shutdowns during periods of unrest.

Broader Implications and the Quest for Decentralization

The ongoing internet blackout in Iran serves as a stark reminder, much like the Afghanistan internet outage, that such events are a "wake-up call" for the blockchain community regarding the true meaning of decentralization and censorship resistance. While the original vision of Bitcoin was to create a peer-to-peer electronic cash system independent of central authorities, the practical reality of transaction broadcast and confirmation often relies on centralized internet service providers.

The situation in Iran highlights the critical need for truly resilient, off-grid communication and transaction methods. It underscores the ongoing cat-and-mouse game between governments seeking to control information and financial flows, and citizens striving for financial freedom and access to global networks. The development of tools like Starlink, Blockstream Satellite, Bitchat, Darkwire, and Machankura represents the cutting edge of this battle, showcasing the ingenuity and adaptability of the open-source and crypto communities.

Ultimately, while no single solution offers a complete panacea for a total internet shutdown, the combination of these technologies—from satellite internet providers to mesh networks and SMS-based systems—provides a multi-layered approach to maintaining some semblance of connectivity and financial autonomy. The question of whether Bitcoin could "survive a 10-year power outage" (as explored in Cointelegraph Magazine) points to the ultimate resilience sought: a system robust enough to withstand even the most extreme disruptions. The Iranian crisis demonstrates that the drive for true decentralization is not merely an ideological pursuit but a practical necessity for millions seeking to protect their wealth and fundamental freedoms in an increasingly interconnected, yet fragile, world.