Imam Reza (AS) holy shrine begins accepting crypto donations

The holy shrine of Imam Reza (AS), the eighth Shia Imam, has begun accepting donations in cryptocurrencies, facilitating contributions from millions of pilgrims and supporters living outside Iran.

Fars News Agency reported on Monday that Astan Quds Razavi, the administrative organization that manages Imam Reza’s holy shrine in the northeastern city of Mashhad, had started accepting donations in Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Tether.

The shrine’s head of public relations said in a post on X that cryptocurrency donations will be accepted and processed through donate.razavi.ir, a website operated by Astan Quds.

Mohsen Hushmand said the platform was launched three years ago in response to requests from overseas pilgrims to facilitate their regular banking and payment donations.

Latest figures released by Astan Quds show that more than 30 million people travel to Mashhad each year to visit the holy shrine of Imam Reza, while the total number of visits to the shrine reaches nearly 250 million annually.

Authorities say pilgrims from 92 countries visit the shrine each year, while millions more pay their respects to the holy site through video links.

The launch of the cryptocurrency donation service comes as Iranians living abroad and foreign pilgrims have faced difficulties transferring money to Astan Quds accounts, mainly due to foreign sanctions that restrict global financial interactions with Iranian banks.

The shrine’s administration uses donations to operate the shrine and support charitable activities, including economic and industrial projects that generate funding for development initiatives in underprivileged regions of Iran.

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