The Iranian government's acceptance of cryptocurrency payments from ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz is consistent with its existing trade networks that circumvent sanctions. According to a spokesperson for Iran's Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Products Exporters' Union, bitcoin is now an accepted payment method for tanker tolls, with a fee of $1 per barrel of oil.
This move aligns with the regime's growing use of cryptocurrency for cross-border trade, particularly for oil sales, as reported by blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis. Experts like Andrew Fierman, head of national security intelligence at Chainalysis, find this development unsurprising, given the regime's history of using cryptocurrency to facilitate trade.
The use of crypto wallets and stablecoins has enabled the Iranian regime to engage in complex, large-scale trade activities, including oil sales to Yemen and weapons purchases from Russia, with transactions totaling millions of dollars. The regime's adoption of cryptocurrency, especially stablecoins, as a payment mechanism for international trade has created an alternative to traditional banking systems, allowing it to bypass sanctions and access global markets. This approach differs significantly from North Korea's focus on stealing and laundering cryptocurrency. The Iranian regime's inability to access US dollar-pegged assets due to comprehensive sanctions since 1979 has made cryptocurrency an attractive solution for international trade.
As Tom Keatinge, founding director of the Centre for Finance and Security, notes, USD-backed stablecoins have become a crucial payment mechanism for the Iranian regime, enabling it to avoid sanctions and Western banking controls. The use of stablecoins like USD1, launched by World Liberty Financial, could potentially provide the Iranian regime with a novel way to further its sanctions-skirting goals, as suggested by Lee Reiners, a lecturing fellow at Duke University's Financial Economics Center.