Iran entered the final night of February 2026 under a near-total internet shutdown. In the wake of a joint strike by the United States and Israel, Tehran almost completely severed the country's connection to the global internet — likely leaving only users on a government whitelist with access to the outside world. Iran’s internet formally remained part of global routing, but user activity fell almost to zero. That points to a managed restriction on citizens’ access to the external network. IODA. But in that digital darkness, one vital financial service continued to operate without interruption: Nobitex, a cryptocurrency exchange linked to Iran’s ruling elite. We compiled the available information about the platform and tried to understand how Iranian authorities use it, what investigations by analytics firms have revealed, and why, despite all these findings, the exchange is still not on OFAC's SDN List. Nobitex is far from a niche platform. While estimates vary, analysts agree that the asset flows moving through the exchange are measured in the billions of dollars. For instance, TRM Labs recorded an observed volume of approximately $5 billion between 2025 and March 2026. Earlier, Chainalysis noted that asset inflows to Nobitex addresses exceeded the combined figure for Iran’s 10 other largest exchanges. Chainalysis. Nobitex has an extensive retail user base. According to the platform's own figures, it serves about 11 million Iranians — almost 12% of the country's population. The exchange offers a suite of services typical for the industry: spot and margin trading, yield-bearing products, liquidity pools, digital gift cards, and even crypto-collateralized lending.