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The Toll Booth at Hormuz Took Bitcoin. Washington Sanctioned the Exchange, Not the Coin.

Since June, the Treasury says, Iran’s mandatory “insurance” for ships crossing the Strait has been paid partly in bitcoin and routed through a Tehran exchange to the Revolutionary Guards. Wednesday’s designation names a street address, two websites, a developer and three men — and, across four OFAC actions against this network, not one bitcoin address. A sanction reaches what has an address. The chain does not, and the Treasury does not pretend it does.

Filed at block 967,630

A satellite photograph of the Strait of Hormuz. Tan, ridged desert of the Iranian coast fills the top of the frame; below it the dark water of the Strait bends around the rocky Musandam Peninsula, which juts up from the bottom right; pale desert of the Arabian side sits at the bottom. Thin clouds drift over the water.
NASA MODIS image, public domain

The Senate Did Not Vote on the Clarity Act. It Voted on Whether to Start.

A flat cartoon illustration of a formal ribbon-cutting with nobody present. A burnt-orange carpet runs from the foreground between rows of brass stanchions and velvet ropes, flanked by oversized urns of dark palms, toward what should be a grand entrance. Instead there is a plain white brick wall with no door or window. A ceremonial ribbon strung across the brick has already been cut, its two ends hanging slack, and a pair of comically oversized gold scissors lies abandoned on the carpet.
Satoshi Gazette · AI-generated satirical editorial illustration

Cloture failed 49 to 50 — eleven votes short of the sixty required, not one. The final text everyone argued about was never before the Senate; by its sponsors' own terms it would only have been offered if that vote had carried. What goes unsettled is a question worth naming plainly: who is allowed to earn on money they hold.

Filed at block 967,281

When trust fails around Bitcoin

Two hands made from torn paper records and interface fragments shake against an orange background, with fragments peeling away at their meeting point.
Satoshi Gazette · AI-generated editorial illustration

The recent security incidents did not demonstrate a break in Bitcoin’s rules. They exposed the promises surrounding them: that a wallet would generate sound keys, a provider would protect your records, and a claim on bitcoin could be redeemed. Self-sovereignty begins by separating those promises from Bitcoin itself.

Filed at block 966,985

More from the Policy desk

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A cream envelope passes beneath glass, casting a hook-shaped shadow toward an intact hardware wallet.

The security email was the attack

Attackers used a newsletter provider’s access to send convincing wallet warnings. The failure was outside the hardware wallet—but the message tried to get inside it.

Filed at block 966,708

Earlier stories

  1. Bitcoin's Rates Trade Is Running in Reverse. The War Premium Went to Bonds.

  2. Russia Opened Crypto at the Border. The Digital Ruble Owns the Checkout

  3. El Salvador Owns the Bitcoin. The Public Record Shows No Citizen Share

  4. Warsh Says Money Matters. M2 Rose 0.89% From May to July

  5. Five Crypto-Linked Donors Supplied 61% of Reform UK's Listed Contributions