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U.S. sanctions Iran-linked maritime insurance scheme that accepted bitcoin
The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned two Iranian maritime insurance entities that accepted bitcoin and other digital assets as payment for forcing ships through the Strait of Hormuz to buy coverage, with proceeds funneled to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The action targets cryptocurrency as a direct sanctions evasion mechanism.
The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control designated two Iranian maritime insurance entities on July 31, 2026: Persian Gulf Marine Insurance Company and HormuzSafe Marine Services Authority, according to CoinDesk. The action was taken under an executive order covering Iran's petroleum and petrochemical sectors.
HormuzSafe was developed by Iran's Ministry of Economy and accepts payment in bitcoin and other digital assets as part of the regime's attempts to bypass Western sanctions, per CoinDesk. The platform functions as what Treasury described as extortion rather than insurance, charging ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz for policies that cover risks such as vessel seizures that are overwhelmingly created by Iran itself, according to Treasury's characterization reported by CoinDesk. The policies were approved by the Persian Gulf Strait Authority, an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-backed body that Treasury designated in May, per CoinDesk.
The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world's most important energy chokepoints. According to CoinDesk, traffic through it has thinned during weeks of U.S. strikes on Iran that have kept oil prices elevated. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated in the sanction announcement, per CoinDesk: "With its economy in freefall and inflation in the triple digits, the regime is desperate for cash."
Designation bars U.S. persons from dealing with the two companies, and foreign firms that transact with them face sanctions themselves, according to CoinDesk. Payments in bitcoin carry the same exposure as payments through banks, per Treasury's position reported by CoinDesk.
The platform's existence was first reported by CoinDesk on May 18, 2026, based on state-linked Fars News accounts describing an economy ministry proposal to manage shipping through the Strait using bitcoin-settled marine insurance policies. At that time, the platform's website showed only a landing page, and CoinDesk could not verify whether it was operational or whether any cargo owners had used it. Fars News claimed at the time the model could generate more than $10 billion without explanation of how that figure was derived, according to CoinDesk.
No blockchain analysis or confirmed bitcoin transactions to the sanctioned entities are documented in available sources. The source does not confirm the operational status of Hormuz Safe between the May 18 reporting date and the July 31 sanction announcement, leaving open the question of whether the sanction targets an active scheme or a platform that remained in pilot or landing-page stage.
The U.S. Treasury sanctioned Persian Gulf Marine Insurance Company and HormuzSafe Marine Services Authority under an executive order, with Hormuz Safe developed by Iran's Ministry of Economy to accept bitcoin and other digital assets.
The sanction directly targets cryptocurrency as a sanctions evasion mechanism in a geopolitical scheme, signaling Treasury enforcement against Iran's use of digital assets to monetize control over a critical energy chokepoint. Watch for blockchain analysis of any transactions to the designated entities and for disclosure of whether the platform was operational before sanction, which would inform whether the action was preemptive or reactive. The narrative shifts if secondary sanctions are formally applied to foreign companies or if any confirmed crypto transactions to the entities surface.
And that's the way it is.
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