The Iranian regime's decision to accept cryptocurrency payments from ships traversing the Strait of Hormuz is a logical progression of its existing trade networks that circumvent sanctions. According to a spokesperson for Iran's Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Products Exporters' Union, bitcoin is now being accepted as a payment method, with a fee of $1 per barrel of oil.
This development is consistent with the regime's growing use of cryptocurrency to facilitate cross-border trade, particularly in the oil sector, as reported by blockchain analytics specialist Chainalysis. Experts, including Andrew Fierman, head of national security intelligence at Chainalysis, note that the use of cryptocurrency in this context is unsurprising, given the regime's history of sanctions evasion. The IRGC-affiliated networks have been using crypto wallets to facilitate cross-border activity, including oil sales to Yemen and purchases of weapons and commodities from Russia, with transactions totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. The adoption of cryptocurrency payments for shipping tolls is seen as a strategic move, allowing the regime to access US dollar-pegged assets and trade globally without relying on the traditional banking system.
According to Tom Keatinge, founding director of the Centre for Finance and Security, USD-backed stablecoins have become a crucial payment mechanism for the Iranian regime, enabling it to avoid sanctions and Western banking controls. Meanwhile, Lee Reiners, a lecturing fellow at Duke University's Financial Economics Center, suggests that Iran could further its sanctions-skirting goals by demanding payment in specific stablecoins, potentially creating a financial incentive for the US to lift sanctions.