Iran Demands Bitcoin For Ships Passing Hormuz During Ceasefire - Slashdot
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An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Financial Times: Iran will demand that shipping companies pay tolls in cryptocurrency for laden oil tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz (source paywalled; alternative source), as it seeks to retain control over passage through the key waterway du...

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,” Hosseini added.

  • CannonFodder@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    1 month ago

    How could that work? Doesn’t it take some time for a bitcoin transaction to get pulled into the chain?

      • CannonFodder@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        1 month ago

        Doesn’t that require trust in the provider hosting the off chain transactions? And lightning transactions can get preempted by conflicting moves from a wallet, and invalidated? I’m no expert, but it seems like these big regular transactions would be targets for abuse.

    • commander@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      1 month ago

      At the size of transactions they’d be doing, it’d probably be worth it to set a high fee so that it gets picked up and processed faster. Should still be peanuts compared to the value of cargo these tankers are carrying

    • shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zipEnglish
      0·
      1 month ago

      It takes 10 minutes to get a single confirmation, but I’m assuming that it takes more than 10 minutes for a ship to transit this waterway, so it wouldn’t matter.

        • shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zipEnglish
          0·
          1 month ago

          Something tells me the article doesn’t understand the way Bitcoin works. A transaction takes 10 minutes to clear on-chain, unless you’re using the lightning network, and the lightning network is fucking terrible, especially for high-value transactions like this. Because you can be rug-pulled. That and you can’t send high-value transactions on a lightning network because every link in the chain has to have the proper amount of liquidity to make that transaction occur.

      • Echo Dot@feddit.ukEnglish
        0·
        1 month ago

        I don’t imagine trying to trick Iran out of their money is a particularly good long-term strategy anyway. Nothing unless you’re going to turn up in a new ship every time.

        • ParlimentOfDoom@piefed.zipEnglish
          0·
          1 month ago

          I mean, all the steps leading up to that take way more than a few seconds, including…getting the email. This seems like someone misspeaking or not understanding what’s going on…