Iran Demands Cryptocurrency Tolls for Oil Tankers in Strait of Hormuz During Ceasefire

Iran moved to entrench its control over the Strait of Hormuz on April 8, 2026, demanding that oil tankers pay transit tolls in cryptocurrency or Chinese yuan — even as a two-week ceasefire struck between the United States and Iran on April 7 nominally reopened the waterway. According to the Wall Street Journal, Iran told mediators it would limit daily ship crossings to around a dozen and require vessels to coordinate passage in advance with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Hamid Hosseini, spokesperson for the Iranian Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Products Exporters' Union, confirmed the toll plan to the Financial Times, stating that pricing is set at approximately one dollar per barrel of oil. The Wall Street Journal reported that only four ships were allowed to pass on April 8 — the fewest so far in April, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. The situation deteriorated further when, according to Il Messaggero, Iran again halted vessel passage in the afternoon following an Israeli attack in Lebanon, leaving thousands of seafarers stranded aboard ships in the Persian Gulf.

Two ships cross, then the strait falls silent again The maritime monitoring organization MarineTraffic reported that two vessels crossed the strait on April 8, briefly raising hopes among shipping companies. The Liberian-flagged Daytona Beach crossed at 06:59 UTC, shortly after departing from the port of Bandar Abbas, while the Greek-owned bulk carrier NJ Earth followed at 08:44 UTC, according to MarineTraffic's post on X as cited by ANSA. Those crossings proved to be exceptions rather than a signal of normalization. German shipping giant Hapag-Lloyd announced it would not resume transit through the strait, citing a situation it described as "tense" despite the ceasefire. „Based on our current risk assessment, we will continue to refrain from transiting the strait, while waiting to understand, in the coming days, if the announced reopening will actually be respected.” — Hapag-Lloyd via Il Messaggero Il Messaggero reported that fleet managers across multiple companies were instructing officers to hold position and await further guidance, with crew members aboard stationary ships expressing concerns about food supplies, drinking water, and the threat of drone shrapnel. The Wall Street Journal reported that Iran was broadcasting via marine VHF radio a warning that ships without permission from the Revolutionary Guard navy risked being destroyed. 20 (percent) — share of world's oil shipped through the Strait of Hormuz

Bitcoin and yuan: Iran's sanctions-proof payment scheme Iran's toll mechanism is designed to circumvent international sanctions, with payments accepted in Bitcoin, stablecoins such as Tether's USDT or the Trump family's USD1, or Chinese yuan, according to reporting by Gizmodo citing the Financial Times. Vessels are required to email Iranian authorities before passage with details of their cargo, after which authorities respond with a toll quote to be paid in digital currency. „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.” — Hamid Hosseini via Gizmodo Hosseini separately framed the monitoring requirement in security terms. „Iran must monitor what enters and exits the strait to ensure that these two weeks are not used for the transfer of weapons.” — Hamid Hosseini via adevarul.ro Gizmodo noted that Bitcoin's decentralized architecture makes it particularly suited to such transactions, as stablecoins like USDT contain technical backdoors allowing payments to be blocked or assets seized — a vulnerability that could undermine Iran's goal of sanction-proof revenue. The Wall Street Journal reported that at least two vessels had previously paid the equivalent of two million dollars in Chinese yuan under an earlier informal toll arrangement that emerged during the war. „The Strait of Hormuz has definitely become as important as the missiles and the nuclear program for them. For them, control is a must.” — Danny Citrinowicz via The Wall Street Journal

The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow waterway between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, with Iran on its north coast and Oman's Musandam Peninsula on its south coast. Approximately 20 percent of the world's oil passes through the strait, making it one of the most strategically significant maritime chokepoints on earth. The current crisis over the strait stems from the US-Israel war on Iran, which began on February 28, 2026, and during which Iran exercised leverage by blocking or threatening ships attempting to cross without its authorization. A two-week ceasefire was reached on April 7, 2026, but Iran's insistence on maintaining toll and coordination requirements has raised questions about whether the waterway will return to its pre-war status.

Toll plan collides with international maritime law Iran's toll scheme poses a direct challenge to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which guarantees a right of innocent passage for ships that do not threaten coastal states, according to The Independent. The complication, as both The Independent and The New York Times noted, is that neither the United States nor Iran has ratified the treaty, limiting the legal mechanisms available to challenge Iran's actions. Donald Trump told reporters at a press conference on Monday that he would like the United States to impose its own toll in the strait — a position that, according to The New York Times, contradicted earlier statements by U.S. officials who had called Iranian tolls illegal. The White House subsequently said Trump is opposed to Iranian tolls, according to The Independent. „Freedom of navigation has always been recognized, including specifically in” — Philippe Delebecque via The Independent international maritime law, said Philippe Delebecque, a professor and maritime law expert at the Sorbonne University in Paris, who described freedom of navigation as rooted in "the idea that the sea doesn't belong to anyone." Iran's 10-point proposal for ending the war includes a provision allowing Iran and Oman to charge ships passing through the strait, with the funds earmarked for reconstruction, according to a regional official cited anonymously by The Independent. Gulf energy producers, who depend on the strait for the bulk of their exports, are strongly opposed to any arrangement that would entrench Iranian control over the waterway, the Wall Street Journal reported. Innocent passage rights, experts warned, could be permanently undermined if Iran's toll arrangement is allowed to stand as a precedent.

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