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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

#51

I think this war will be the moment that historians mark as the death of Pax Americana. The US failed to change the Iranian regime, failed to open the strait, and now a previously international waterway will be tolled in a currency other than the dollar. I wish it need not have happened in my time

I think it’s weird that you imply that it is because the American regime failed to change the Iranian regime. They (lead by Israel or not) illegally invaded a country. It’s just Pax for those parts of the world that America and its allies are not invading (and other non-allied examples like Russia invading Ukraine). But a typical top-comment about how America Did a Bad Thing Which Ruined The Good American-lead Times.

> It’s just Pax for those parts of the world that America and its allies are not invading

Aren't you making the very point you purport to refute? What's so different about this than Rome circa 50 BC? They even invaded Persia!

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

#52
post #23

I think this war will be the moment that historians mark as the death of Pax Americana. The US failed to change the Iranian regime, failed to open the strait, and now a previously international waterway will be tolled in a currency other than the dollar. I wish it need not have happened in my time

No air war has changed a regime. The US government knows this. Trump knows this and never had regime change as an objective. Why are you saying that regime change was an objective, and how do you think it was going to happen in an air war when no air war has caused a regime change before?

Little correction: Trump has a different objective every second day, and at some point there was (also) regime change on the menu. Might come again, I don't know.

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

#53

I think this war will be the moment that historians mark as the death of Pax Americana. The US failed to change the Iranian regime, failed to open the strait, and now a previously international waterway will be tolled in a currency other than the dollar. I wish it need not have happened in my time

I’d say there is a credible case for saying the vote for 2nd round of trump was the turning point. By that point is was already pretty well established that he isn’t fit yet that’s what the public wanted.

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

#54
I personally think is the US's Teutoburg Forest moment [1]. Rome was capable of rebuilding legions. After all, they'd done so historically (eg after the Battle of Cannae [2]) but Teutoburg really exposed the rot and dysfunction within the Rome. I personally believe this event will be a turning point in redefining the relationships with Europe, the Gulf states and Israel.

Details on this deal are sketchy but it seems like Iran will continue charging a toll for the Strait of Hormuz (of approximately $1/barrel). You hear figures like $2 million but bear in mind that VLCCs/ULCCs can carry 2M+ barrels of oil. Also, it seems like there will be significant sanctions relief.

Here's the problem: how does Iran get paid? Normally that would be through international payments systems but the US exerts a lot of control over those and can freeze assets as they've done in the past. Part of the payments under the previous JCPOA [3] were to return money paid to Iran for oil where those payments had been frozen. Russia got locked out of SWIFT after the Ukraine invasion [4] as another example.

So I see this as a defensive and potentially temporary move to avoid the risk of asset seizure and freezing should hostilities resume. Iran may well end up with access to international payments systems again in the coming weeks, at which point this could all change.

It is interesting that crypto is being used for this but that just goes to the point that the use case for crypto is to bypass laws. That's no different here.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Teutoburg_Forest

[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cannae

[3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_nuclear_deal

[4]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SWIFT_ban_against_Russian_bank...

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

#55
post #39

Does this mean ceasefire is now broken? The 10 point plan was to be discussed later in the peace talks, but what was the exact conditions that predicated the ceasefire?

Isn't it broken with Israel continuing their war against Lebanon?

As best I can tell, the Iranian regime and Sharif both said that they ceasefire included a cease to strikes on Lebanon, Netanyahu explicitly said that it did not, and the Trump admin, Lebanon, and Hezbollah have not yet commented either way.

Links to Pakistan and Israel statements here: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/4/8/us-iran-ceasefire-de...

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

#56
post #39

Does this mean ceasefire is now broken? The 10 point plan was to be discussed later in the peace talks, but what was the exact conditions that predicated the ceasefire?

Isn't it broken with Israel continuing their war against Lebanon?

Definitively if they agreed to it as part of the ceasefire. What did each part actually agree to when they agreed to a ceasefire? There doesn't seem to be much concrete information about that part.

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

#57

I think this war will be the moment that historians mark as the death of Pax Americana. The US failed to change the Iranian regime, failed to open the strait, and now a previously international waterway will be tolled in a currency other than the dollar. I wish it need not have happened in my time

I can't believe that the toll will actually be paid - it would turn Iran into an INSANELY wealthy superpower and easily give them the funds to hugely increase their availability to fund groups like hezbollah etc.

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

#59
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't it broken with Israel continuing their war against Lebanon?

As best I can tell, the Iranian regime and Sharif both said that they ceasefire included a cease to strikes on Lebanon, Netanyahu explicitly said that it did not, and the Trump admin, Lebanon, and Hezbollah have not yet commented either way. Links to Pakistan and Israel statements here: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/4/8/us-iran-ceasefire-de...

Trump and Leavitt have both said that Lebanon is not part of the ceasefire

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

#60
I did a double-take at it being Bitcoin fees, since you'd think they'd want some stablecoin (even if not USD) so as to avoid inheriting the volatility, but no, they want Bitcoin specifically:

>“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,” FT reported, citing Hosseini.

https://beincrypto.com/iran-bitcoin-toll-hormuz-strait-tanke...

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