A "few seconds" to pay in bitcoin? So the captain is supposed to be watching for a response via email with his finger hovering over the pay button? Is the recipient address static? Surely they would use unique payment addresses if they have any hope of obfuscating payments.
This all sounds more like a TV show script than an actual thought-out plan to me.
> So the captain is supposed to be watching for a response via email with his finger hovering over the pay button?
no, mate
Presumably these are lightning invoices, which can resolve in milliseconds.
Why would you want to obfuscate payments if you can track how many ships entered the gulf using transponders? Regarding money laundering, you use Tornado Cash or Monero
WSJ reports they can pay in Chinese yuan instead of Bitcoin.