Collecting tolls with BTC! Iran's move has rewritten the history of currency.

Writing by: Demir

The world’s most important oil route has just become a Bitcoin toll station.

On April 8th, Hamid Hosseini, spokesperson for the Iranian Oil, Gas, and Petrochemical Products Exporters Association, confirmed to the Financial Times that all fully loaded oil tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz must pay transit fees in cryptocurrency—standard is about $1 per barrel of crude oil, with Bitcoin as the primary currency.

The process is as follows: shipowners first email Iranian authorities to report cargo details; after evaluation, Iran will give the crew “a few seconds” to complete the Bitcoin transfer. Hosseini’s exact words are:

“Ensure it cannot be traced or confiscated due to sanctions.”

A supertanker carrying 2 million barrels of crude oil incurs a transit fee of about $2 million per passage.

Many believe this is a temporary wartime emergency measure. It is not.

As early as mid-March 2026, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had already begun actively collecting cryptocurrency transit fees. On March 30-31, Iran’s parliament officially passed the “Hormuz Strait Management Plan,” legalizing the entire system.

The fees are categorized into five levels based on the “friendliness” of the country. Ships related to the U.S. or Israel: outright denied passage.

Currently, there are two payment options: Bitcoin, or RMB settled through the CIPS system via Kunlun Bank.

Note this combination—this is not just a cryptocurrency initiative; it’s the overall showcase of a de-dollarization toolkit.

Why choose Bitcoin instead of USDT?

USDT (Tether) and USDC both have asset freeze backdoors. A directive from the U.S. Treasury’s OFAC can instantly freeze assets at related addresses.

Iran is well aware of this—having been under sanctions for decades.

Bitcoin has no such backdoor.

On-chain addresses cannot be frozen, transactions do not go through the U.S. banking system, and settlements are nearly instantaneous. Under extreme sanctions and blockade conditions, these are precisely the attributes Iran needs: censorship resistance, unseizability, and no third-party permission required.

This is exactly the scenario Satoshi Nakamoto envisioned when designing Bitcoin.

How big is this?

According to blockchain compliance firm TRM Labs’ estimates:

Just for oil tankers, potential daily revenue can reach up to $20 million.

Including LNG (liquefied natural gas) ships, total monthly income could reach $600 million to $800 million.

Before the war, the Strait of Hormuz saw 100-120 commercial ships passing daily, carrying about one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas.

This is not a country “trying out” cryptocurrency. It is a country using cryptocurrency as its sovereign revenue mechanism— a first in human history.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt explicitly stated:

“Trump demands the immediate, unrestricted opening of the strait, including no tolls,” which is one of the core conditions of the ceasefire agreement.

Defense Secretary Hegseth said:

“The strait is open.”

Meanwhile, data from the ship tracking service MarineTraffic shows that since the ceasefire was announced, only sporadic bulk carriers have passed through the strait, with no large-scale resumption of oil tanker traffic.

IRGC’s crypto network is not a new phenomenon.

Chainalysis data shows that a single financier linked to IRGC completed about $178 million in transfers via crypto addresses in just one year. Kunlun Bank’s CIPS channel has been operational for years.

The Hormuz toll system is simply bringing this underground railway above ground—operating openly through national legislative legislation.

Some analysts believe that if Iran demands to use the USD1 stablecoin linked to the Trump family for toll payments, then the U.S. president would have a direct financial motive to lift sanctions.