Banks Ghost Commodity Traders Over Iran War Fears, USDT Sweeps In Like a Stablecoin Hero

Geopolitical turmoil is doing what regulators couldn't—pushing commodity traders out of traditional banking and straight into the arms of stablecoins. That's the word from Luke Sully, CEO of trade finance stablecoin issuer Haycen, who says the war involving Iran has banks more spooked than ever about compliance, triggering a fresh wave of debanking across commodity markets. Turns out nothing terrifies a compliance officer more than the possibility of accidentally financing the wrong geopolitical player—except maybe holding USDT in a corporate account.

"Since the war, banks are further retreating from certain commodity flows," Sully told CoinDesk. "We spoke with some commodity traders who are getting debanked now." The message from traditional finance is crystal clear: thanks for the years of profitable business, but we'd rather not risk getting flagged by OFAC, so kindly take your shipping containers and get lost.

The $2 trillion trade finance market is feeling the squeeze. Banks are worried that seemingly legitimate transactions through regional hubs like Oman could have indirect ties to sanctioned Iranian entities. Rather than deal with the headache, many are just walking away entirely—leaving traders without access to traditional payment rails in a sector that was already heavily financed outside of conventional banking. Nothing says "we value your business" like a form letter explaining how your completely legal manganese shipment is now too risky to process.

Trade finance, a roughly $2 trillion market for international trade transactions, has increasingly been dominated by non-bank lenders, including private credit funds that finance the movement of commodities and goods globally. These lenders provide critical liquidity, often earning annualized returns of around 15%, enabling transactions like shipping helium from Qatar to South Korea or manganese from South Africa to Indonesia. But they still rely on banks for settlement and payment rails—and those relationships are now under serious strain. Private credit degens are out here earning 15% APY on helium trades while banks hide under their desks—classy.

Enter stablecoins. Digital tokens pegged to the U.S. dollar are emerging as a key workaround. Tether's USDT has seen growing adoption among commodity traders operating in emerging markets. The stablecoin market cap has surpassed $300 billion in 2025 after roughly 50% annual growth, with transaction volumes exceeding $4 trillion—now accounting for around 30% of all onchain activity. USDT is basically the Robin Hood of trade finance at this point, swooping in to save the day while banks clutch their compliance manuals and weep.

"Tether is soaking up a lot of the payments flow," Sully says. "If you want to make a one-time payment into an emerging market, USDT is helping." The appeal is simple: deep global liquidity and widespread acceptance. "There is so much global USDT liquidity that people don't mind sending or accepting it as payment, because someone in their country will eventually swap it for dollars." It's like cash, but digital, borderless, and doesn't require a 45-minute call with your relationship manager at HSBC.

Sully frames this as a workaround rather than a long-term solution. "This is more of a workaround for these people than a solution for trade finance in general." Fair enough—using stablecoins to move billions in commodity payments because banks got cold feet is definitely a "use a flamethrower to light a candle" situation, but when the candle's worth $2 trillion, you take what you can get.

The geopolitical backdrop is producing some extreme signals. Sully pointed to reports that bitcoin is being used as a "currency of choice" for payments tied to safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint for global oil shipments. "It shows that trade finance is increasingly being led and managed by non-bank actors and non-bank ways of transacting." Nothing says "the future is now" quite like pirates and shipping magnates settling disputes with the hardest money ever created.

Haycen is positioning itself to capture this shift. The firm issues USDhn, a U.S. dollar-backed stablecoin designed specifically for trade finance. Haycen aims to be the liquidity and settlement layer for non-bank global trade, currently working with industry participants worldwide. "Funds don't get lost for seven days. You can log in, see your deposits and counterparties in one place, and settle instantly," Sully says. Imagine that—actually knowing where your money is. Revolutionary concept.

Unlike most stablecoin issuers focused on crypto trading or retail payments, Haycen is targeting a specific institutional niche. "Every other stablecoin business is a payments business or a crypto trading business. We're solving a different problem." In a market full of companies trying to get your grandma to buy coffee with USDC, Haycen is out here trying to become the backbone of international trade. Bold strategy, cotton.

That problem—how to move money efficiently in a fragmented, increasingly de-risked global trade system—may only grow more acute as geopolitical tensions persist. Ironically, Sully notes, banks' retreat could accelerate crypto adoption faster than the industry itself ever managed. Nothing like a good old-fashioned geopolitical crisis to do what years of conference panels and influencer tweets couldn't accomplish. Sometimes the best marketing is just staying out of the way.