Iran has seen over two and a half billion in capital outflows toward cryptocurrency purchases according to a senior government official while the central bank cools talk of a banking blockade on the sector.

Iranian citizens have spent over $2.5 billion in buying cryptocurrencies beyond the country’s borders so far, the head of the Iranian Parliament’s Economic Commission told local publication IBENA over the weekend.

Majils (the Iranian Parliament) Economic Commission chief Mohammad Reza Pour-Ebrahimi reportedly said:

Despite the fact that a minority of citizens in the country are customers of cryptocurrencies, more than $2.5 billion has been sent out of the country for buying digital currencies with a majority of people [investors] in it for speculative activities and huge profits.

The revelation comes at a time when the Iranian rial plunged to a new low against the US dollar after months of depreciation leading up to the United States’ formal withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal on Wednesday. Nearly a month ago to the day, panic buying of rare US dollars saw a single USD exchanged for up to 60,000 rials in Tehran, Iran’s capital city. Already an all-time low, the rial plunged even further following Trump’s announcement on Tuesday night, with a dollar being sold for as much as 80,000 rials according to Reuters.

With fears of an economic crisis brewing, it’s little surprise then that Iranian citizens are turning to cryptocurrencies.

US President Trump withdrew from the Obama-era nuclear deal this week leading to fears of an economic crisis.