The Iranian government's decision to accept cryptocurrency payments from cargo ships traversing the Strait of Hormuz is a calculated move that aligns with its existing trade networks designed to circumvent sanctions. This development has been confirmed by a spokesperson for Iran's Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Products Exporters' Union, who revealed that bitcoin is now an accepted payment method. Previous reports indicated that stablecoins were being used to allow select oil tankers to pass through unharmed, with a fee of $1 per barrel of oil.
The largest tankers can carry up to two million barrels, making this a significant move. The formalization of a cryptocurrency-based toll payment system appears audacious, yet it fits into the Iranian regime's broader strategy of using cryptocurrency to facilitate cross-border trade, particularly for oil sales. According to Andrew Fierman, head of national security intelligence at Chainalysis, the Iranian regime, specifically the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), has been increasingly utilizing cryptocurrency over the past few years to facilitate international trade.
This trend is evident in the complex network of crypto wallets used for sanctioned activities. In December 2024, a U.S.-sanctioned IRGC-affiliated financier was involved in Iranian oil sales to Yemen, with cryptocurrency addresses facilitating transfers worth over $178 million in a single year. The following year, in April 2025, a broader network of Houthi financiers purchased weapons and commodities from Russia, with their cryptocurrency addresses accounting for nearly a billion dollars in activity.
The Houthis, an Iran-backed armed group controlling much of northern Yemen, have also considered 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. This system is more complex and established than a simple network of wallets, with the regime using a network of cryptocurrency wallets to facilitate cross-border activity.
The use of cryptocurrency, particularly stablecoins, as a payment mechanism for cross-border trade is the inverse of North Korea's situation, where the primary goal is stealing and laundering billions of dollars in crypto. The Iranian regime has been comprehensively sanctioned since 1979, making it challenging to access U.S. dollar-pegged assets and trade internationally.
The ability to use USD-pegged stablecoins creates a mechanism for the regime to trade globally 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, allowing it to evade 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 goals by demanding payment in specific stablecoins, potentially creating a financial incentive for the U.S. to lift sanctions.