Iran is weighing crypto tolls for ships using Strait of Hormuz: Report

Hours after US President Donald Trump claimed that Iran and the United States had agreed to a two-week ceasefire that included opening the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian authorities are reportedly considering charging ships using the waterway in cryptocurrency.

According to a Wednesday Financial Times report, a spokesperson for Iran’s Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Products Exporters’ Union said empty oil tankers will be able to pass through the Strait of Hormuz without incurring charges, but certain ships will need to pay a tariff of $1 per barrel of oil in Bitcoin (BTC).

The spokesperson, Hamid Hosseini, reportedly said Iranian authorities would also assess each ship using the waterway over the two-week period to ensure it wasn’t transporting weapons.

“Once the email arrives and Iran completes its assessment, vessels are given a few seconds to pay in Bitcoin, ensuring they can’t be traced or confiscated due to sanctions,” said Hosseini, according to the Financial Times.

Many ships have effectively been cut off from using the Strait of Hormuz to transport oil and other supplies after US-Israel air strikes on Iranian targets in February and March. Amid the move by Iran and geopolitical tensions, the price of crude oil exceeded $100 per barrel for the first time in four years and the prices of many cryptocurrencies were volatile, with BTC fluctuating between $65,000 and $75,000.

Related: Bitcoin reclaims $72K after US, Iran agree to 2-week ceasefire

Trump claimed on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday that the ceasefire deal included  the suspension of the “bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks” and the  "complete, immediate, and safe opening of the Strait of Hormuz.” Iran's state media reported that the country delivered a 10-point plan to the US president as a condition for the deal, including continued control of the waterway and the end of sanctions on Iran.

Prior to war, Iran still used crypto to bolster its currency

Before the escalation of hostilities between US-Israeli forces and Iran in February, reports suggested that Iran had been using digital assets to evade sanctions amid its currency, the rial, dropping against the US dollar.

Blockchain analytics platform Elliptic reported in January that Iran’s central bank acquired half a billion dollars worth of Tether’s USDt (USDT) stablecoin. TRM Labs also tracked about $3.7 billion in total crypto flows in Iran between January and July 2025.

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