United States Treasury sanctions against Iran ' s Holmuz Strait Insurance Network, involving the use of bitcoin to circumvent sanctions

On 30 July, OFAC, the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the United States Department of the Treasury, imposed sanctions on the Persian Gulf Marine Insurance Corporation and the HormuzSafe Maritime Services Authority, which provided insurance policies approved by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Iran for commercial vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz and accepted payment of digital assets such as bitcoin to circumvent sanctions. It has also sanctioned eight shadow fleet ships and their subsidiaries transporting Iranian crude oil and petroleum products, and since the beginning of this year it has sanctioned more than 100 vessels associated with the Iranian Shadow Fleet。