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 strategies, according to experts in blockchain-based criminal activity. This move 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. Previous reports indicated that stablecoins were being used to facilitate the passage of select oil tankers, with a fee of $1 per barrel of oil, which can amount to significant revenue given that the largest tankers can carry up to two million barrels. The formalization of a cryptocurrency-based system for shipping toll payments appears audacious, yet it aligns with the Iranian regime's, particularly the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' (IRGC), increasing use of cryptocurrency to facilitate cross-border trade over the past few years, as per data from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis.
Andrew Fierman, Head of National Security Intelligence at Chainalysis, noted that the use of cryptocurrency for such transactions is unsurprising, given the context of Iranian oil sales and the tolls paid by ships sailing through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical sea channel through which approximately a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas passes. A review of sanctioned activities over the last year and a half reveals a complex and expanding network utilizing crypto wallets.
In December 2024, a U.S.-sanctioned, IRGC-affiliated financier connected to the Iran-backed Houthi regime facilitated Iranian oil sales to Yemen, involving cryptocurrency addresses, which resulted in over $178 million in transfers within a year. Later, in April 2025, a broader network of Houthi financiers purchased weapons and commodities from Russia using cryptocurrency addresses that were included in a sanctions designation, accounting for nearly a billion dollars in activity over the course of the year. Interestingly, the Houthis, who control much of northern Yemen, have considered imposing a second chokepoint on the world's oil and gas shipping trade at the Bab-al-Mandeb channel, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. According to Fierman, the picture that emerges is one of IRGC-affiliated networks leveraging crypto at a commercial scale to facilitate cross-border trade, a system that is more complex and established than the simple use of a handful of wallets.
The IRGC has a network of cryptocurrency wallets that facilitate this cross-border activity, making it easier to accept payments in crypto than to use the traditional banking system, especially given the sufficient liquidity that eliminates the need for cryptocurrency exchanges. The broad adoption of cryptocurrency, particularly stablecoins, by the IRGC as a payment mechanism for cross-border trade is the inverse of North Korea's situation, where the primary goal is to steal and launder billions of dollars in crypto. The Iranian regime, comprehensively sanctioned since 1979, faces significant challenges in accessing U.S. dollar-pegged assets due to individual sanctions on nearly every bank, making it difficult for them to engage in international trade.
The use of USD-backed stablecoins creates a mechanism that allows them to trade globally without relying on the traditional banking system, as most counterparts are unwilling to trade in Rials or Tomans due to the country's hyperinflation. Tom Keatinge, Founding Director of the Centre for Finance and Security at UK defense think tank RUSI, agrees that USD-backed stablecoins have become an important payment mechanism for the Iranian regime, allowing it to avoid 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 World Liberty Financial, which could create a financial incentive for the U.S. to lift sanctions.