Iran's encrypted tollbooth in the Strait of Hormuz

Source: TRM Team; Translation: Jinse Finance Claw

Key Points of this Article：

• Iran has begun accepting cryptocurrency as a payment option for transit fees in the Strait of Hormuz since mid-March 2026, marking the first time a country has used cryptocurrency infrastructure as a sovereign revenue mechanism in a major maritime chokepoint.

• The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) charges up to $2 million per vessel; different public estimates suggest that the charging system could generate up to $20 million in revenue daily from oil tankers alone, and potentially $600 million to $800 million per month if liquefied natural gas carriers are included.

• The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) charges up to $2 million per vessel; different public estimates suggest that the charging system could generate up to $20 million per day from oil tankers alone, and potentially $600 million to $800 million per month if liquefied natural gas carriers are included.

• The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) charges up to $2 million per vessel; different public estimates suggest that the charging system could generate up to $20 million per day from oil tankers alone, and potentially $600 million to $800 million per month if liquefied natural gas carriers are included.

The anonymous intermediary responsible for managing the fees has not yet disclosed its identity, creating a critical information gap for any future enforcement or sanctions actions against the payment network. Cryptocurrency payments can be settled quickly and do not go through the US correspondent banking system, making real-time interception of transit fee payments extremely difficult technically. The Pakistan-brokered ceasefire agreement took effect on April 7, 2026, but according to a statement from the Iranian government on April 8, the status of the agreement may change. The transit fee collection remains in effect, and Iran has established institutional infrastructure (specific regulations, the command structure of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and the Qeshm Island cryptocurrency exchange channel), indicating that the mechanism is unlikely to be withdrawn in the short term. Iran's use of digital assets as a means of payment for transit fees through the Strait of Hormuz is a key deployment of cryptocurrency at the national level to circumvent sanctions. Since mid-March 2026, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has been charging ship operators passing through the strait up to $2 million per vessel, accepting payments in RMB (via Kunlun Bank's Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS) to bypass SWIFT), Bitcoin, or possibly USDT. Iranian parliamentary legislation stipulates that the fees are denominated in rials and authorizes payments using "digital currencies" involving Iranian companies. Iran approved the "Strait of Hormuz Management Plan" on March 30-31, 2026, formalizing an already operational system. Based on current traffic volume, public analysis suggests that the toll system could generate up to $20 million daily from oil tankers alone; if LNG carriers are included, monthly revenue could reach $600 million to $800 million.



1. How does the Strait of Hormuz toll system work?

Although vessels began transiting the strait on April 8, it remains unclear whether the ceasefire agreement reached last night will affect the toll system in the short term. The typical operation process of this toll system is as follows: Contact and Declaration: Ship operators contact anonymous intermediary companies affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and submit ship ownership certificates, flag registration information, cargo manifests, port of destination, crew list, and AIS tracking data; Security Review: The IRGC screens ships—verifying their connections to the United States or Israel; ships from hostile countries (such as the United States and Israel) are completely prohibited from passage; Nationality Classification: Iran uses a five-tier nationality rating system—classifying countries into levels 1-5 based on "friendliness," with higher friendliness levels resulting in lower applicable rates; **Fee Negotiation:** Tanker fees are based on approximately US$0.5 to US$1 per barrel of crude oil (rates vary by country class); a fully loaded Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) (approximately 2 million barrels) will cost approximately US$2 million; fees for container ships and other vessel types will be negotiated separately. **Payment Method:** Only RMB (via Kunlun Bank/CIPS system) or digital assets are accepted. **Passage Permit:** Upon payment, the vessel will receive a VHF radio pass code and be escorted by the IRGC Navy through the channel north of Larak Island. **2. Why does the Iranian regime accept cryptocurrency?** Iran's choice to accept cryptocurrency as a payment method for passage fees through the Strait of Hormuz is not a departure from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' (IRGC) existing financial strategy, but rather an extension of it. As TRM Labs documented before the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed sanctions on Zedcex and Zedxion in January 2026, the IRGC had already transferred approximately $1 billion through offshore, exchange-branded stablecoin infrastructure. This leverages the same characteristics that attract legitimate users: low transaction costs, high throughput, deep broker liquidity, and widespread regional adoption—all while completely bypassing the U.S. correspondent banking system. The Hormuz fee system deploys the same architecture, transforming an existing sanction circumvention channel into a real-time revenue collection mechanism for the Iranian state. Cryptocurrency transactions can be settled quickly and without going through the U.S. correspondent banking system, making them difficult to freeze or intercept in real time. Which cryptocurrencies does Iran accept? According to Iranian state media, the Iranian parliament has passed legislation listing the rial, yuan, and digital currency as payment methods, but the full text of the bill has not been made public, making it impossible to confirm the specific currency from the legal text itself. Iranian state media and some officials specifically mentioned Bitcoin, while Western media, citing shipping industry sources, reported that the cryptocurrency collected by the IRGC in practice is USDT. Although the use of USDT aligns with the IRGC's documented pattern of behavior, the IRGC may be more inclined to believe that Bitcoin has specific operational considerations: centralized stablecoin issuers can freeze funds and cooperate with law enforcement to confiscate illicit proceeds. 3. How Iran Explains the Role of Cryptocurrency in the Hormuz Fee System Iranian officials and their affiliated media, when describing this fee system, primarily define it as a declaration of sovereign rights, rather than a wartime revenue-collecting measure. Parliamentary supporters of the Hormuz management plan claim that the strait is "no different from other transit routes—we guarantee its security, and it is only natural that ships and tankers pay us." A media outlet affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) described the system as "a tollbooth Iran has set up at the throat of world trade," calling it a "long-overdue exercise of sovereignty." Iran legally defends its toll collection, pointing out that it has never ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea—which explicitly prohibits toll collection in international straits—and therefore, within Iran's narrative, it has the right to charge for the "services" it provides, including security escorts, navigation guidance, and environmental monitoring.



Hamid Hosseini, spokesman for the Iranian Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Exporters Union, told Iranian media that the toll system helps "monitor goods entering and leaving the strait and ensure that the waterway is not used for weapons transport"—characterizing cryptocurrency tolls as a censorship and monitoring mechanism, rather than just a financial tool. Iranian customs has set up a dedicated digital currency exchange window on Qeshm Island to quickly convert digital assets into rials or transfer them to overseas accounts after collection—indicating that Iran is consciously building infrastructure for large-scale cryptocurrency processing.