Hours after U.S. President Donald Trump said 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 spokesman for Iran’s Association of Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Exporters he said empty tankers will be able to pass through the Strait of Hormuz without paying tolls, but some ships will have to pay a $1-per-barrel tariff of oil in Bitcoin (BTC).
Spokesman Hamid Hosseini reportedly said Iranian authorities would also assess any ship using the waterway within two weeks to ensure they were not carrying weapons.
“Once Iran receives the email and completes its assessment, the ships have a few seconds to pay in Bitcoin, making them untraceable or confiscated due to sanctions,” Hosseini said, according to the Financial Times.
Many ships were effectively cut off from using the Strait of Hormuz to transport oil and other supplies after U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on Iranian targets in February and March. Amid Iran’s moves and geopolitical tensions, the price of crude oil exceeded $100 a barrel for the first time in four years, and prices of many cryptocurrencies were volatile, with BTC ranging from $65,000 to $75,000.
Related: Bitcoin recovers 72 thousand dollars after the US and Iran agreed to a 2-week ceasefire
On Tuesday, Trump said on his Truth Social platform that the ceasefire agreement includes a suspension of “Iranian bombings and attacks for a period of two weeks” and a “complete, immediate and safe opening of the Strait of Hormuz.” Iranian state media reported that the country had submitted a 10-point plan to the US president as a condition for the deal, which included continued control of waterways and the lifting of sanctions on Iran.
Before the war, Iran continued to utilize cryptocurrencies to strengthen its currency
Before the escalation of hostilities between US-Israeli forces and Iran in February, reports suggested that Iran was using digital assets to avoid sanctions imposed on its currency, the rial, falling against the US dollar.
Elliptic blockchain analytics platform reported in January, Iran’s central bank acquired the stablecoin Tether (USDT) worth half a billion dollars. TRM Labs also tracked the total cryptocurrency flow in Iran from January to July 2025, worth approximately $3.7 billion.
Warehouse: ‘Phantom Bitcoin’ Checks, Drift Hack Linked to North Korea: Asia Express
