Iran is eyeing a new insurance toll from ships that cross the Strait of Hormuz, with reports suggesting that the Persian gulf state could demand that the premium be paid in Bitcoin.
Iran’s Ministry of Economic Affairs has suggested that traffic through the Strait be controlled by a formal insurance mechanism attached to marine transit and financial responsibility certificates, Iran’s state media agency Far News reported on Monday. Fars said it had obtained a state document detailing the proposal and that the system could earn more than $10 billion for Tehran.
The proposal comes after U.S. Treasury had previously warned that any shipper paying tolls to Iran for passage through the Strait of Hormuz, including charitable donations to organizations such as the Iranian Red Crescent Society, is at risk of punitive sanctions.
Nearly one-fifth of global oil trade takes place through the Strait of Hormouz, giving the narrow waterway immense geopolitical importance. At present, shipping across the Strait remains heavily disrupted. Since late February, when the U.S. and Iran formally entered into a state of war, the movement of ships and takers across the region has been slow, making nations face a rise in energy prices and shortage of essential petroleum products.
The latest speculation centers on a website called “Hormuz Safe,” which has been circulating online in the form of screenshots advertising “Secure Digital Insurance for Maritime Cargo.” Some reports related to crypto alleged the platform was associated with an Iranian attempt to collect insurance payments in Bitcoin though the site was unavailable at the time of writing and no official confirmation has come from Iranian authorities.
Iran previously denied crypto toll reports
Interestingly, Iran had strictly denied media reports of collecting transit tolls using crypto at the Strait. As The Coin Headlines reported earlier, the state media had refuted claims that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was using payments in crypto such as Bitcoin or other stablecoins from oil tankers under the U.S.-mediated ceasefire.
Almost simultaneously, the Financial Times reported that Iran had been contemplating a system whereby oil tankers would pay transit fees in cryptocurrency with negotiations said to be beginning near $1 per barrel of crude.
Bloomberg later reported that such pricing was discussed in talks involving maritime operators and an intermediary linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The speculations had resulted in scammers impersonating Iranian authorities to collect toll fees from vessel holders. Previous reports highlight that unknown parties had been sending out phishing emails targeting shipowners stuck near the Strait, pretending to be Iranian authorities requesting cryptocurrency payments such as Tether for safe passage.
Why is Bitcoin in the picture?
Bitcoin’s involvement in the “alleged transactions” came to light after U.S. authorities froze roughly $344 million worth of Tether linked to Iran last month.
Earlier reports had indicated that the Iranian-linked actors were using USDT and the Chinese yuan for their energy-based transactions. Moreover, the authorities had also resorted to using Bitcoin for some of the settlements related to trade and shipping.
Blockchain analysis company Chainalysis had earlier pointed out that historically, Iran has been using dollar-stablecoins such as USDT on the Tron blockchain to transfer money outside the banking system.
Transactions using stablecoins ensure that the identity of the user’s wallet address remains hidden, thus making it difficult for international sanctioning systems to track down the transaction. The firm has further stated that any future structure involving crypto tolls or insurance for the Strait of Hormuz would pose a challenge for virtual asset service providers as well as crypto exchanges interacting with the sanctioned entity unknowingly.
The members of the crypto community believe that Bitcoin would become increasingly popular among sanctioned states owing to its decentralized nature, if the Iranian authority gives a green signal to its current plans.