Iran’s currency crisis and protests in late December 2025 renewed discussion of Bitcoin as an alternative store of value. Bitwise chief executive Hunter Horsley argued that Bitcoin could offer protection from monetary mismanagement, according to contemporaneous reporting carried by Yahoo Finance.
His comments were an industry executive’s argument about Bitcoin, rather than evidence that Iranian households could reliably preserve purchasing power by buying it.
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Currency depreciation and a reliable hedge are different claims
A fall against the US dollar measures an exchange-rate change. It should not be substituted directly for the change in the price of a household’s goods and services.
Bitcoin introduces its own price, custody and access risks. Even if it rises against a weakening local currency over one period, that observation does not guarantee protection over another.
Correcting the banking reference
The earlier article incorrectly identified Bank Melli as the bank that collapsed. October 23 reporting by Iran International identified Ayandeh Bank as the institution whose license was withdrawn, with its deposits transferred to Bank Melli.
For a framework for comparing risks, see our finance foundations guide.
Editor’s note: Bank Melli was incorrectly described as the failed bank; the institution was Ayandeh. Unsupported mining-cost estimates and broad claims about local legal access have been removed.