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Oil exporters’ union says fees to be paid in cryptocurrency and vessels monitored for weapons

Iran will demand that shipping companies pay tolls in cryptocurrency for laden oil tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz, as it seeks to retain control over passage through the key waterway during the two-week ceasefire.

Hamid Hosseini, a spokesperson for Iran’s Oil, Gas and Petrochemical Products Exporters’ Union, told the FT on Wednesday that Iran wanted to collect tolling fees from any tanker passing and to assess each ship.

“Iran needs to monitor what goes in and out of the strait to ensure these two weeks aren’t used for transferring weapons,” said Hosseini, whose industry association works closely with the state.

“Everything can pass through, but the procedure will take time for each vessel, and Iran is not in a rush,” he added.

Decisions on the conditions for passing the strait are taken by Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. Hosseini’s remarks suggest Iran will require any tankers to use the northerly route close to its coastline, raising questions over whether western or Gulf state-linked vessels will be willing to risk transit.

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,” Hosseini added.

Tankers in the Gulf on Wednesday received a radio broadcast that warned they would be targeted with military strikes unless they first gained approval from Iranian authorities.

“If any vessels try to transit without permission, [they] will be destroyed,” said the broadcast, which is in English, according to a recording shared with the FT.

The fate of transit through the strait is one of the thorniest issues facing negotiators as they try to turn a temporary ceasefire into a prolonged peace, with Iran’s desire to retain leverage over the key waterway clashing with fierce opposition from the US’s allies in the Gulf.

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday night that the ceasefire was contingent on “the Islamic republic of Iran agreeing to the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz”, according to a social media post.

A statement from Iran’s Supreme National Security Council listed 10 points that form the basis for negotiations with the US, including a new “protocol for secure passage” through the strait in co-ordination with Iran’s armed forces.

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Managers have struggled to navigate huge market swings sparked by conflict

Hedge funds were blindsided by the onset of the US and Israeli war with Iran last month, suffering their biggest losses since the lockdowns in March 2020 shuttered the global economy at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The flagship hedge fund performance index of data provider HFR recorded a 3.1 per cent fall last month, more than any month since a 9.1 per cent drop six years ago.

Hedge funds have struggled to get to grips with violent market swings, often provoked by US President Donald Trump’s social media posts. Oil prices soared above $110 a barrel in recent weeks as Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil shipping route.

Having threatened to “end” Iranian civilisation earlier this week, Trump announced a 14-day ceasefire this morning, which sent Brent crude oil prices tumbling below $95 a barrel and sparked big rallies in stocks and bonds.

“I’ve been managing money for 40 years and I’ve never been less certain on how things are going to turn out,” said one macro hedge fund manager.

Major multi-manager hedge funds such as Ken Griffin’s Citadel, Izzy Englander’s Millennium Management and Dmitry Balyasny’s eponymous firm were down 1.9 per cent, 1.2 per cent and 4.3 per cent in their flagship funds for March respectively, according to people familiar with the returns.

But the pain was most acute among macro hedge funds that trade assets such as bonds and currencies to make bets on economic trends.

After anticipating interest rate cuts before the war, markets quickly became far more pessimistic about inflation and priced in several rate increases.

That shift inflicted big losses on so-called steepener trades, bets that shorter-dated bonds will perform better than longer-dated ones.

“Rates got hit particularly hard right at the beginning and that was where most of the losses were concentrated,” said one person at a big multi-manager hedge fund. “Just brutal.”

Gold, a traditional safe haven during times of intense volatility, did not protect hedge funds from the intense volatility in markets either.

The macro fund of London-based Caxton fell 15 per cent to March 20, while Citadel’s fixed income fund GFI was down 8.2 per cent in March. ExodusPoint, a multi-manager hedge fund that specialises in macro bets and bond trading, was down 4.5 per cent for the month while macro hedge fund Brevan Howard’s master fund was down 6.6 per cent.

Citadel, Millennium, Balyasny, ExodusPoint and Brevan all declined to comment. Caxton did not respond to a request for comment.

Kenneth Heinz, president of HFR, said that many large hedge funds actually made money on oil wagers; the trouble was they lost even more on other positions including bonds.

“There were not enough long oil to offset the rapid repricing of the dovish interest rate and positive growth scenario that people had priced in for 2026,” he said.