The Iranian government's acceptance of cryptocurrency payments from cargo ships traversing the Strait of Hormuz is a strategic move that aligns with its existing trade networks designed to circumvent sanctions. According to a spokesperson for Iran's Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Products Exporters' Union, bitcoin is now an accepted payment method, while previous reports indicated the use of stablecoins for this purpose.
The toll amounts to $1 per barrel of oil, with larger tankers carrying up to two million barrels. This formalization of a cryptocurrency-based payment system for shipping tolls appears audacious but is consistent with the Iranian regime's increasing use of cryptocurrency for cross-border trade, particularly for oil sales, as per data from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis. Experts find this development unsurprising, given the regime's history of leveraging cryptocurrency to bypass sanctions. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has been utilizing cryptocurrency for cross-border commercial trade, including oil sales, over the past few years.
A review of sanctioned activities over the last year and a half reveals a growing and complex network of crypto wallets. In December 2024, a U.S.-sanctioned IRGC-affiliated financier was involved in Iranian oil sales to Yemen, using cryptocurrency addresses, with transfers totaling over $178 million in a year. Later, 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 over the course of a year. The Houthis, an Iran-backed armed group controlling 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.
The picture that emerges is one of IRGC-affiliated networks using crypto at a commercial scale for cross-border trade, according to Andrew Fierman of Chainalysis. This system is more complex and established than the use of a handful of wallets, with the regime utilizing a network of cryptocurrency wallets to facilitate cross-border activity. Accepting crypto payments makes it easier for the regime to trade internationally without relying on the traditional banking system, given the liquidity in the cryptocurrency market. The IRGC's adoption of cryptocurrency, particularly stablecoins, for cross-border trade is distinct from North Korea's focus on stealing and laundering billions of dollars in crypto.
The Iranian regime has faced comprehensive sanctions since 1979, including individual sanctions on almost every bank, making it challenging for them to access U.S. dollar-pegged assets and trade internationally. The use of 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 at UK defence 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 goals by demanding payment in specific stablecoins, potentially creating a financial incentive for the U.S. to lift sanctions.