Iran shot and hit a tanker that paid for a bitcoin crossing
The boat that paid for the fake money was hit with a real gun。
Original by Deepwater TechFlow
Introduction:LESS THAN TWO WEEKS AFTER IRAN ANNOUNCED THAT BITCOIN WAS BEING CHARGED FOR CROSSING THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ, FRAUDSTERS PRETENDED TO BE IRANIAN OFFICIALS WHO SENT FALSE INFORMATION CLAIMS TO BTC AND USDT FOR THE REMAINING TANKERS。
At least one tanker that had paid false road passers-by was fired upon by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard while attempting to pass. Both TRM Labs and Chainalysis indicated that no evidence of large-scale encrypted currency charges had been found。
Iran announced the use of bitcoin to pay for the trip, and the story was turned into a weapon within two weeks。
ACCORDING TO REUTERS, ON APRIL 21, THE GREEK MARITIME RISK MANAGEMENT COMPANY MARISKS ISSUED A WARNING THAT UNIDENTIFIED INDIVIDUALS, IMPERSONATING THE IRANIAN AUTHORITIES, SENT FALSE INFORMATION TO VESSELS STRANDED WEST OF THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ, DEMANDING THAT BTC OR USDT PAY “PASSAGE FEES” IN EXCHANGE FOR SAFE PASSAGE. ACCORDING TO MARISKS, AT LEAST ONE OF THE VESSELS THAT WAS FIRED AT BY IRANIAN REVOLUTIONARY GUARDS WHEN IRAN BRIEFLY OPENED THE STRAIT ON 18 APRIL WAS THE VICTIM OF THE SCHEME。
The absurdity of the incident lies in the chain of causes and consequences: a sovereign state announced a bitcoin pass, a fraudster copied the phrase and the shipowner believed that the money had been paid and then fired at by the real Iranian army。
From the National Settlement Tool to the con man's attack. Noodles
The story starts in early April。
On March 30-31, the Iranian parliament adopted the Holmuz Strait Management Plan, which formally incorporates into law the system of transit fees that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has been implementing since mid-March. According to the Financial Times, Hamid Hosseini, spokesman for the Iranian Union of Exporters of Oil, Gas and petrochemical Products, confirmed that full-carrying tankers were required to contribute at the standard rate of $1 per barrel, in the form of bitcoin, USDT or RMB. A super tanker filled with 2 million barrels of crude oil can cost $2 million for one trip。
One news, bitcoin price jumped by 5 per cent, one break of $7.27 million. The encryption community quickly interpreted it as a landmark validation of bitcoin as a "neutral settlement layer of international trade". Agencies such as Bitwise even linked it to a $1 million breakthrough forecast for bitcoin。
But there are many suspects。
In a report dated 15 April, Sam Lyman of Bitcoin Policy Institute stated that a large-scale collection of bitcoin crossing fees with available technology was “nearly impossible to achieve”. TM Labs Global Policy Manager Ari Redbord stated to Fortune magazine that the link data did not indicate that the payment of road fees was occurring on a large scale. In its analysis, Chainalysis states that the chain activities of Iran ' s associated entities rely mainly on USDT on Tron instead of bitcoin。
Liars don't care about these technical arguments. All they need is a credible narrative, and the Iranian Government has written them a script。
The boat that paid for the fakes, took the real guns
According to Reuters and DL News, the language of the fraud is highly modelled on the official calibre. The fraudster asked the owner to submit the ship's documents, claiming that it would be assessed by the “Iranian security services” at the expense of BTC or USDT, after which the ship could pass through the Strait at the scheduled time。
About 400 ships and about 20,000 crew members are currently in the Persian Gulf. The United States blockades Iranian ports, and Iran's repeated openings and closures of the straits, under a double blockade, the shipowner's anxiety is understandable. Liars use this anxiety with precision。
ON 18 APRIL, IRAN BRIEFLY OPENED THE STRAIT AND SOME VESSELS ATTEMPTED TO PASS. ACCORDING TO THE UK MARITIME TRADE OPERATIONS CENTRE (UKMTO), TWO IRANIAN REVOLUTIONARY GUARDS (IRDF) GUNBOATS OPENED FIRE ON AN OIL TANKER ATTEMPTING TO LEAVE THE STRAIT AND FORCED IT TO RETURN. ACCORDING TO MARISKS, THE TANKER HAD PREVIOUSLY PAID AN ENCRYPTED CURRENCY, “PASSAGE FEE”, TO THE FRAUDSTER AS IF IT HAD BEEN GRANTED A PERMIT。
The money was paid, but it did not reach Iran. The boat was hit。
Paying a liar could be a violation of the sanctions law
Even more ironically, even if the shipowner realized that he had been deceived, the legal risk would not disappear。
Xue Yin Peh, Chief of Investigation Strategy at Chainalysis, stated to Decrypt that, irrespective of whether the recipient was really the Iranian authorities, the payment party intended to make payments to the sanctioned regime could constitute a violation of the OFAC, EU and British sanctions regulations. In other words, you think you're paying Iran a fee, even if the money comes into the pocket of a fraud, the regulator can still pursue your "subjective intent"。
TRM Labs, Europe, Middle East and Africa Policy Manager, Isabella Chase, also warned that any wallet address related to such requirements should be considered a "high risk" and that encrypted currency payments do not provide any "safe harbour" at the level of sanctions compliance。
This creates an almost incomprehensible dilemma for shipowners: payments to Iran are sanctions violations, payment to fraudsters may also be sanctions violations, and failure to pay continues to drift in the Persian Gulf。
"bitcoinisreversible" has gone from virtue to flaw
The whole thing deserves the most reflection in the encryption industry, is what Bitcoin's core features are doing in this scene。
Benzinga points out the key issue in the report: the payment of the encrypted currency cannot be withdrawn once it is issued. There is at least the possibility of freezing and recovering traditional bank transfers, but the funds are lost once Bitcoin and USDT are transferred. This characteristic is referred to in the normal business context as “untrusted settlement” and becomes “unrecoverable loss” in the supersequence of war plus fraud。
This may be the most ridiculous encryption story in 2026... Iran's plan to collect the road fare in bitcoin may never really land, but the fraudster has earned money from it, and a tanker has been shot。
