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Iran demands Bitcoin fees for ships passing Hormuz during ceasefire

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Re: Iran demands Bitcoin fees for ships passing Hormuz during ceasefire

#231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe the only stablecoin that is "uncensorable" is the old MakerDAO DAI (pegged to USD with vaults overcollaterised with other tokens). Not sure if there is a lot of liquidity left. Its successor USDS has implemented all the mechanisms to censor some addresses but if I remember correctly this hasn't been activated yet. All the other ones: USDC, USDT, EURC and the ruble one can be whipped out easily. So more risk…

You can issue any stablecoin via bitcoins taproot asset protocol. Transfer even over lightning. Thus it is uncensorable. USDT has this enabled.

Indeed, very interesting !

Apparently it is very recent [0]

Now I am still wondering, does the taproot asset protocol make it really uncensorable? because on Ethereum an address can be blacklisted by Tether and the USDT frozen (through the ERC20 contract I believe).

And I would be a bit surprise that Tether, which is more and more integrated and compliant with regulations, would start minting USDT on a system that doesn't have an asset freezing mechanism...

- [0] https://www.binance.com/en/square/post/03-31-2026-tether-rei...

Re: Iran demands Bitcoin fees for ships passing Hormuz during ceasefire

#232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cryptocurrency has had many legal real world uses cases. It is used heavily in prediction markets. Serving as an inflation-resistant store of value that is orthogonal to gold also is an implicit real world use case. Permissionless and easy international transfer of funds between individuals has been the biggest real world use. It's not only for collecting and trading. Obviously, those wanting to suppress it will keep…

Defending crypto as legitimate by adding 'it's also useful for gambling to get around regulation' is wild.

Some bets are less gambling than others. For example, if you bet "no" on the US leaving NATO this year, just how much of a gamble is that? There are many such bets, some a lot less uncertain than this example. Anything can happen in today's environment as yesterday's ceasefire showed, but in aggregate, statistics and commonsense are not lost. The regulation you speak of is oppressive, legally unchallenged, and is considered undesirable by people who appreciate personal freedom.

Re: Iran demands Bitcoin fees for ships passing Hormuz during ceasefire

#233
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TBF, Iran is saying an exorbitant price right now, but in reality they will need to balance their price with demand to bring in the maximum possible revenue. The toll may work out in the long run.

AFAIK they only let two ships pass before closing it again due to Israeli strikes on Lebanon, so in effect the strait is still closed and likely to remain so.

I read Lebanon wasn’t part of the deal, so…

Re: Iran demands Bitcoin fees for ships passing Hormuz during ceasefire

#234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think only the US is not bombing anyone for the time being. I think, and hope, they will slowly pull out of there and not fuck up the status quo any further.

The US can’t just walk away now because the straight is not open / secure for trade ships.

They can. It would be a defeat, but at least it would be a less costly defeat than Afghanistan.

Re: Iran demands Bitcoin fees for ships passing Hormuz during ceasefire

#235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a designated third party Pakistan and they say Lebanon is part of the ceasefire.

They say it, but can they prove it? Because everyone seems to be saying a different thing. Shouldn't Pakistan be able to say "this is the document, these are the terms, these are the signatures, case closed"?

Pakistan are the mediators, why would they lie about the explicit terms of the agreement? They would immediately loose all trust if they did.

Re: Iran demands Bitcoin fees for ships passing Hormuz during ceasefire

#236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is the US seriously going to side with Iran on a missing payment? Assuming not, is the value of the ceasefire more than $1m for Iran if a ship slyly doesn't pay or the few million if one starts a trend? As I said I might be cynical but I see layered games of chicken where some people are surprisingly risk tolerant..

Iran's terms are all ships transiting the strait have to coordinate with its military. One would assume they are monitoring ship movements, and know which ones are complying and which ones are not. The US doesn't need to "side with Iran" on anything: ship captains, owners and insurers are free to gamble their ships and payloads against Iran's resolve and strike capabilities, my assumption is they like to predictabili…

All very reasonable.. But plenty of odd stuff happened in maritime during covid and plenty of odd stuff related to ghost fleet.. My point is not that Exon is going to save a million my point is that it is an interesting way that I think the cease fire would come to an end if it became a stable one on other fronts. I.e. the US doesn't have to choose based on anything but what is expedient to it wanting an end to the cease fire, a boat may be from the right country with the wrong organizational finances for the mounting costs so far, and so on..

Re: Iran demands Bitcoin fees for ships passing Hormuz during ceasefire

#237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They say it, but can they prove it? Because everyone seems to be saying a different thing. Shouldn't Pakistan be able to say "this is the document, these are the terms, these are the signatures, case closed"?

Pakistan are the mediators, why would they lie about the explicit terms of the agreement? They would immediately loose all trust if they did.

I'm not saying they're lying, I am just wondering why they don't seem to have a definitive proof of what they say- they say one thing and the US "disagrees"- why can't any of the parties just show the fucking document?

Re: Iran demands Bitcoin fees for ships passing Hormuz during ceasefire

#238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> IMHO don't see how Israel-US can politically survive those two scenarios. Is that such a bad thing?

Probably for the actual innocent people who live in Israel , yes

Israel is a modern day Nazi Germany. I wouldn't call anyone there over the age of 18 "innocent".

Re: Iran demands Bitcoin fees for ships passing Hormuz during ceasefire

#239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> IMHO don't see how Israel-US can politically survive those two scenarios. Is that such a bad thing?

Probably for the actual innocent people who live in Israel , yes

Maybe Iran will avoid Palestinian parts.

Re: Iran demands Bitcoin fees for ships passing Hormuz during ceasefire

#240
post #2

”Hosseini said that each tanker must email authorities about its cargo, after which Iran will inform them of the toll to be paid in digital currencies. “He said that the tariff is $1 per barrel of oil, adding that empty tankers can pass freely. “‘Once the email arrives and Iran completes its assessment, vessels are given a few seconds to pay in bitcoin, ensuring they can’t be traced or confiscated due to sanctions,’…

As bitcoin is quite traceable I don't see how this works if you're trying to avoid sanctions. For Iran it probably doesn't matter but for the vessel owners it probably does.

Aren't there any chinese or russian bitcoin exchange services?
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