Bitcoin (BTC) activity in Iran rose as its second nationwide internet shutdown continued, but the transaction data cannot show whether households could reliably reach their wallets.
By the shutdown’s end, the measure had climbed past 75% of baseline, up from roughly 20% near its Feb. 28 start. It later approached twice baseline as restrictions eased in late May.
On May 26, Iran’s internet traffic reached 40% of its highest level recorded in 2026. Earlier in the shutdown, traffic had fallen below 1% of its previous level, while IPv6 traffic was nearly absent.
The transaction series and connectivity readings are separate measures, each scaled against its own reference point. Transaction totals describe activity, not how many people were behind it, and cannot establish whether households could reliably access their wallets.
During the outage that began Jan. 8, internet traffic started a fuller recovery on Jan. 27. Transaction activity went from nearly 90% below baseline in the first week to above baseline after restrictions were lifted.
Transaction totals also cannot show whether Bitcoin was used to pay for goods or services, as EconoTimes explained in a previous article on the limits of transaction counts.
