The Iranian government chose Bitcoin as a payment method for oil tolls due to its confiscation-resistant properties, but only dollar stablecoins have been used so far. Iran’s government naming Bitcoin (BTC) as a payment method for oil ships crossing the Strait of Hormuz highlights its role as a neutral, strategic asset, according to Sam Lyman, head of research at digital asset advocacy organization Bitcoin Policy Institute (BPI). The government selected BTC as one of the payment methods for the tolls because of its censorship-resistant qualities, Lyman told Cointelegraph. He said: Iran is accepting oil tolls in Chinese yuan, US dollar-pegged stablecoins and BTC. However, there is “no onchain evidence” of a BTC toll payment so far, Lyman said, adding that the “majority” of Iran’s crypto transactions are denominated in US dollar stablecoins. Read more
Poland’s parliament has once again failed to overturn President Karol Nawrocki’s veto of the crypto regulation bill. Poland’s parliament has once again failed to overturn a presidential veto blocking a key crypto regulation bill, extending the political standoff over how the country should oversee digital assets. In a vote held Friday, lawmakers fell short of the 263 votes required to override the veto issued by President Karol Nawrocki, local outlet TVP World reported. A total of 243 MPs voted against the veto, while 191 supported it, per the report. The bill, backed by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, aims to align Poland with the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), introduced in 2024 to govern the issuance and custody of crypto assets. Poland remains the only EU member state yet to implement the bloc’s framework. Read more
Stablecoins promise seamless dollar movement, but fragmented liquidity is turning large transfers into complex execution problems, says Eco CEO Ryne Saxe. Stablecoins behave like a fragmented foreign exchange market, where liquidity is spread across blockchains and pools, creating price differences and uneven access to dollar liquidity. Moving stablecoins looks simple on the surface. But under the hood, it’s often a multi-step transaction routed across chains and pools. “It’s a very special case of a foreign exchange market onchain, and that leads to bad user experience, with unexpected slippage, transaction reversion and unfamiliar information when moving your dollar from point A to point B,” Ryne Saxe, CEO at stablecoin infrastructure company Eco, told Cointelegraph. Read more