US Treasury sanctions Iranian maritime firms behind Bitcoin-denominated Hormuz insurance scheme

The US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has sanctioned two Iranian maritime firms, Persian Gulf Marine Insurance Company and HormuzSafe Marine Services Authority, for operating a scheme that used Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to finance the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), according to reporting by Protos. The scheme, called Hormuz Safe, was designed to allow shipowners to pay insurance premiums in cryptocurrency in exchange for guaranteed safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint for global oil trade.

OFAC claims the two firms are integral to the IRGC's operations and describes their insurance mechanism as an extortion scheme. The Treasury estimates the arrangement would have generated over $10 billion in revenue for Iran, providing the country's military with a new revenue stream independent of traditional financial systems.

Regime financier Babak Morteza Zanjani promoted the scheme to followers on social media. Between 2024 and 2025, Zanjani moved an estimated $850 million through Binance, according to Protos, despite his account being flagged multiple times by the exchange. The discovery raises questions about exchange compliance procedures and how flagged accounts operating at that scale persist in the system.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent framed the action in terms of economic desperation. "With its economy in freefall and inflation in the triple digits, the regime is desperate for cash," Bessent said. "The United States will not allow Iran to hold global commerce hostage or use international shipping to finance the IRGC's terrorism, aggression, and repression."

Yesterday's sanctions also targeted an Iranian shadow fleet of tankers engaged in supplying crude oil and petroleum products, broadening the Treasury's enforcement beyond the insurance scheme itself. The action occurs against a backdrop of regional instability: a war began in February 2026, followed by a June US-brokered memorandum of understanding aimed at peacefully reopening the strait and ending the conflict. Military strikes resumed on July 13. Another round of peace talks occurred in late July during a three-day ceasefire, but the conflict has since intensified again.

The sanctions demonstrate the Treasury's willingness to use enforcement against firms operating crypto infrastructure for state-backed evasion and financial coercion. It also illustrates how crypto's borderless nature can serve as a tool for circumventing traditional sanctions, and the limitations of exchange-level compliance when dealing with large-scale, state-backed actors.