Episode
When Other Money Fails
- Published
- Apr 12, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 431
- Processing state
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- https://www.theflyingfrisby.com/p/when-other-money-fails
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Summary
Good Sunday to you, It seems Iran is planning to turn the Strait of Hormuz into the marine equivalent a toll road, or so at least the Financial Times among others is reporting. Ships wishing to pass through the strait must pay a fee of $1 per barrel of oil. Here’s the clincher: the fee must be paid in bitcoin. Why bitcoin? It’s the best money for the job. As it is “permissionless”, no government can order the funds to be frozen or seized. No bank can block the transaction. There is no intermediary. It is outside geopolitical control. Transactions can be made remotely and digitally. Settlement is within minutes. Ownership is clear. The network is sufficiently liquid. No other widely used currency or payment system in existence has these qualities. Not the dollar, not the euro, not gold or silver, not stablecoins. Suddenly bitcoin has become “a tool to navigate a global conflict’, in the words of bitcoiner Jesse Tevelow. A particular company might not like Iran. Iran might not like the company. Neither might trust the other. The two can still transact. Trade can happen between parties that don’t like or trust each other. Trade can also happen outside of politics. Every bitcoiner has known for some time such a moment was coming. It was just a matter of when. If this is enforced, it would mark the first real-world use of bitcoin as neutral settlement infrastructure in a live geopolitical conflict, where traditional systems cannot operate. Obviously this only works if Iran can enforce it, and the Strait is not only Iran’s. This is currently only a contingency situation and, if this conflict ends, habits may quickly revert. There is the other possibility that it does work. Indeed it works so well other nations start copying. The BRICS nations, for example, might find bitcoin…