Bitcoin News
By Dan Saada
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Bitcoin and the HormuzSafe Website. OFAC's core claim against HormuzSafe is that it accepted Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to…
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Why Bitcoin, and Why the Strait of Hormuz. The Strait of Hormuz handles roughly one-fifth of the world's oil trade.
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Crypto Enforcement Gets Harder. The broader enforcement picture here is worth sitting with for a second.
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The US Treasury just went after two Iranian maritime firms, and Bitcoin is right at the center of it.
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The Office of Foreign Assets Control — OFAC — designated Persian Gulf Marine Insurance Company and HormuzSafe Marine Services Authority as part of what it calls an insurance…
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OFAC's core claim against HormuzSafe is that it accepted Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to sidestep sanctions and funnel money back to the IRGC.
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Back in May, screenshots of the HormuzSafe website started circulating online. The site apparently showed "digital insurance" options for maritime cargo, with Bitcoin listed as…
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Iranian state-affiliated Fars News Agency had reported that the proposed platform could potentially generate over $10 billion by issuing marine insurance policies and…
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The Strait of Hormuz handles roughly one-fifth of the world's oil trade. That's not a minor shipping lane — it's a chokepoint that can move global energy prices with very little…
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Bitcoin's appeal to sanctioned entities isn't hard to understand. There's no central authority that can freeze a wallet the way a bank can freeze an account.
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More context: Fed Holds Rates at 3.50%–3.75% for Fifth Straight Meeting as Bitcoin Ticks Up
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Centralized stablecoins are a different story. Issuers can blacklist specific wallet addresses, and they do.
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Previous reporting had suggested Iran accepted oil toll payments in Chinese yuan, Tether USDt, and Bitcoin.
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The broader enforcement picture here is worth sitting with for a second. Regulators can sanction a company name, freeze centralized assets, and block bank accounts.
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The HormuzSafe case fits a pattern that's been building for a while — sanctioned states and networks testing crypto rails as an alternative to dollar-based finance.
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