The platform, called Hormuz Safe and operated at hormuzsafe.ir, issues cryptographically verifiable insurance policies and financial responsibility certificates for Iranian shipping companies and cargo owners moving through the Persian Gulf. Coverage activates upon blockchain confirmation of payment. The launch follows Iran's parliament passing the Strait of Hormuz Management Plan in March 2026, which codified a transit toll system the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had been operating since mid-March. Iranian officials project the scheme could generate more than $10 billion in annual revenue, though no methodology or timeline was provided to support that figure. That projection was reported by Fars News Agency and Bitcoin Magazine; Fars News is a semi-official Iranian state outlet, and readers should weigh the estimate accordingly.

The backdrop is a crisis that has reshaped global shipping since February 28, 2026. Following the collapse of nuclear negotiations between Iran and Western powers, U.S. and Israeli airstrikes against Iran triggered an IRGC declaration effectively closing the strait. Before the conflict, roughly 178 ships transited the chokepoint daily, carrying approximately 20.9 million barrels of oil per day, representing about 20 percent of global petroleum consumption and roughly one-quarter of all seaborne oil trade, according to the IEA and UNCTAD. Traffic has since dropped by an estimated 95 percent. More than 1,500 commercial vessels remain trapped inside the Persian Gulf. War-risk insurance premiums for Hormuz transit, which stood at roughly 0.25 percent of vessel value before hostilities, climbed to a peak of approximately 10 percent before settling to between 3 and 8 percent, translating to insurance bills of $3 million to $8 million per large tanker voyage, according to marine risk assessor AlbanyAntree. Most major London and European insurers have suspended war-risk policies for the region altogether. In partial response to that gap, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation announced a reinsurance facility of up to $40 billion on a revolving basis, providing a significant backstop within the legitimate insurance market.

Iran had already been collecting ad hoc crypto transit fees before launching Hormuz Safe, with some tankers reportedly paying up to $2 million per voyage in Bitcoin, USDT (Tether's dollar-pegged stablecoin), and Chinese yuan. In April 2026, toll rates were reported at approximately $1 per barrel of oil. The new platform formalizes this arrangement under a state-branded product. Iran's broader crypto infrastructure has grown alongside these developments: Chainalysis estimates Iran's annual crypto ecosystem volume exceeded $7.78 billion in 2025. The Chainalysis 2026 Crypto Crime Report separately found that sanctioned entities across all sanctioned jurisdictions worldwide received roughly $104 billion in crypto value that year, a 694 percent increase over the prior period.

Despite the official framing, independent experts see substantial obstacles. Abdul Khalique, affiliated with Liverpool John Moores University Maritime Centre, told Al Jazeera that Iran lacks both the financial reserves and the reinsurance access needed to back legitimate claims, and that international ports and maritime regulators may refuse to recognize certificates issued by the platform. He concluded that participation would be "limited and highly selective," drawing only "niche or politically aligned participants." The website itself remains inaccessible outside Iran, according to reporting by Insurance Journal and Yahoo Finance, raising further questions about operational readiness. Many of the foundational reports about Hormuz Safe originate from state-linked Iranian outlets, a sourcing limitation relevant to assessing the platform's claims. Adding to credibility concerns is the involvement of Babak Zanjani, a businessman previously imprisoned for embezzling billions from Iran's oil ministry. Zanjani had his death sentence commuted and has since become a prominent promoter of the scheme. His specific formal role with Hormuz Safe has not been independently verified.

The sanctions exposure for any non-Iranian company engaging with the platform is severe and explicit. Kaitlin Martin, a senior intelligence analyst at Chainalysis, said, speaking about crypto payments to Iranian-linked entities broadly, that paying crypto transit fees to Iran "could carry significant sanctions violation risk, as the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps is sanctioned by multiple jurisdictions and Iran is subject to comprehensive sanctions by the United States." In January 2026, the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control designated two IRGC-linked crypto exchanges, Zedcex and Zedxion, in its first-ever actions targeting IRGC digital asset infrastructure. In April 2026, U.S. authorities froze approximately $500 million in Iranian crypto assets. Blockchain analytics firms have noted that the public ledger makes on-chain payments to Iranian addresses traceable, not hidden.

The regional stakes for South Asian operators are particularly sharp. India imports more than 85 percent of its crude oil, with 60 percent sourced from the Middle East. The Hormuz closure has already cut roughly 3 million barrels per day from India's supply. Approximately 60 percent of India's LPG demand is met by imports, the majority transiting Hormuz, creating downstream pressure on rural households and fertilizer production. Qatar and the UAE together account for 53 percent of India's LNG imports, cascading the disruption into power generation and agriculture. The country holds only around 30 days of strategic petroleum reserves, compared to China's estimated 300 days. India's Finance Ministry has flagged "considerable downside" risk to its 7.0 to 7.4 percent growth forecast for fiscal year 2027. Pakistan faces compounding pressure as well, with higher oil import costs and reduced LPG access adding strain to that country's already fragile fiscal position and energy supply. In Africa, cargo that once moved through Hormuz and the Red Sea (where Houthi-linked attacks have also resumed, according to UNCTAD and the IMF, further disrupting that corridor) is now rerouting around the Cape of Good Hope, driving up freight costs and import bills across sub-Saharan economies with limited fiscal room to absorb the shock. The disruption has contributed to an industrial slowdown in the African copper belt linked to fuel shortages, and piracy off the Somali coast has resurged in correlation with supply constraints affecting coastal East African communities. Fertilizer shortfalls, given that up to 30 percent of internationally traded fertilizer normally transits Hormuz, threaten food security in African agricultural importers.

The U.S. government has been unambiguous in its opposition to the toll system. The White House stated that "international waterways must remain open to global shipping and that no country should impose unilateral tolls on transit passage," a position that also reflected China's registered opposition to the tolls following Trump-Xi discussions. UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for passage to be restored with no "tolls and no discrimination." Iran, for its part, is framing Hormuz Safe as a commercially legitimate service. Negar Mortazavi of the Center for International Policy said Iran wants the scheme to appear "palatable and acceptable" rather than projecting the image of a rogue state. Whether any mainstream international operator will conclude that framing outweighs the sanctions risk remains an open question. Analysts point to the trajectory of OFAC enforcement, including recent exchange designations and large-scale asset freezes, as factors that are likely to weigh heavily against participation.