The Iranian government's decision to accept cryptocurrency payments from cargo ships traversing the Strait of Hormuz is a logical progression of its existing sanctions-circumventing trade networks, according to experts in blockchain-based criminal activity. This development has been confirmed by a spokesperson for Iran's Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Products Exporters' Union, who stated that bitcoin is now an accepted payment method.
A previous report indicated that stablecoins were being used to facilitate the passage of select oil tankers, with a fee of $1 per barrel of oil. The formalization of this system appears to be a bold move, but the Iranian regime has been leveraging cryptocurrency to facilitate cross-border trade, particularly with Iranian oil sales, over the past few years, as per data from Chainalysis. According to Andrew Fierman, head of national security intelligence at Chainalysis, 'it's highly unsurprising that this type of trade would be happening via cryptocurrency as well.' A review of sanctioned activity over the last year and a half reveals a complex and growing network utilizing crypto wallets.
In December 2024, a US-sanctioned financier linked to the Iran-backed Houthi regime facilitated Iranian oil sales to Yemen involving cryptocurrency addresses, resulting in over $178 million in transfers. In April 2025, a broader network of Houthi financiers purchased weapons and commodities from Russia, with their cryptocurrency addresses included in a sanctions designation accounting for nearly a billion dollars in activity. The Houthis have also raised the prospect of imposing a second chokepoint on the world's oil and gas shipping trade at the Bab-al-Mandeb channel.
The IRGC-affiliated networks are using crypto at a commercial scale to facilitate cross-border trade, according to Fierman. The regime has a network of cryptocurrency wallets that make it easier to accept payments in crypto, bypassing the traditional banking system. The Iranian regime has been comprehensively sanctioned since 1979, and its inability to access US dollar-pegged assets makes it challenging to trade internationally. The use of stablecoins creates a mechanism that allows them to trade globally with anyone willing to trade with them, without relying on the traditional banking system.
Tom Keatinge, founding director of the Centre for Finance and Security, agrees that USD-backed stablecoins have become an essential payment mechanism for the Iranian regime, avoiding sanctions and western banking controls. Lee Reiners, a lecturing fellow at Duke University's Financial Economics Center, suggests that Iran could further its sanctions-skirting stablecoin goals by demanding payment in USD1, a stablecoin launched by the Trump family-affiliated World Liberty Financial.