Iran is considering charging ships in Bitcoin to pass through the Strait of Hormuz during a two-week ceasefire, putting cryptocurrency at the center of a new dispute over one of the world’s most important oil routes.
The Financial Times reported that Hamid Hosseini, a spokesperson for Iran’s Oil, Gas, and Petrochemical Products Exporters’ Union, said some tankers could be charged $1 per barrel of oil, while empty vessels would be allowed to pass without fees.
The plan would give crypto an unusual role in global energy trade, as ships would have to notify Iranian authorities about their cargo before passing through the strait. Iran would then decide the fee, which would be paid in Bitcoin.
Bitcoin Fees Align With Iran’s Payment Shift
The reported proposal would raise costs for ships carrying oil through Hormuz, a route that handles about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas trade. Based on the reported $1-per-barrel charge, a fully loaded tanker could face a bill running into millions of dollars.
Using Bitcoin would also support Iran’s long-running effort to use payment channels that are less exposed to Western sanctions. Other reports said vessels from friendly countries could also be asked to pay in Chinese yuan, indicating that sanctions concerns may be just as important as shipping rules in any new transit system.
From Stablecoins to Bitcoin
The Bitcoin proposal follows earlier reports that ships using the Strait of Hormuz could be asked to pay transit fees in yuan or dollar-pegged stablecoins such as USDT and USDC. Vessels would first have to submit cargo, ownership, and destination details before receiving approval to pass, with the charge set at about $1 per barrel of oil carried. That would leave a fully loaded supertanker facing a bill of roughly $2 million for a single transit.
The shift from stablecoins to Bitcoin shows that Bitcoin is harder to control from the outside. Its decentralized structure makes it more difficult to block or freeze transfers than stablecoins issued by centralized companies, like USDT and USDC, which can be restricted by their issuers. That could make stablecoins less useful for payments that may face sanctions pressure. Bitcoin, by contrast, does not have a central issuer that can stop a transfer in the same way. Even so, Bitcoin is not invisible, as transactions are still recorded on a public blockchain and can be traced.
Ceasefire Fails to Calm Shipping Fears
Shipping groups said the ceasefire had not yet restored confidence in the waterway, with disputes over the truce raising fresh questions about whether the Strait of Hormuz could remain open. Maersk said the ceasefire could create some opportunities for transit but still did not provide full certainty for shipping operations, while Reuters reported that about 187 tankers carrying roughly 172 million barrels of crude and refined products were still inside the Gulf on Wednesday.
The legal side is also unclear, as international maritime law does not generally allow coastal states to charge fees simply for passage through straits used for international navigation, although charges tied to services can be permitted.
