[News Brief] Apr 22, morning | President Trump Announces Official Completion of Peace Agreement with Iran and Reopening of the Strait of Hormuz

President Trump announced that a peace agreement with Iran has been officially completed and that the Strait of Hormuz has been reopened, according to Watcher.Guru.

The Strait of Hormuz is a key shipping route for Middle Eastern oil exports. Previously, concerns over passage through the strait had intensified amid geopolitical tensions, contributing to higher international oil prices and greater volatility in financial markets.

Source: Odaily

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Karibabadi said on the 15th local time that the wording of a memorandum of understanding between Iran and the United States had been finalized.

The document is scheduled to be formally signed in Switzerland on the 19th. The agreement signals that bilateral talks have entered their final stage and may influence Middle East geopolitics and sentiment toward risk assets.

Analysts say Bitcoin traders should pay attention to the Bank of Japan’s rate decision. With yen short positions rising to their highest level in nine years, a rate hike could increase volatility across risk assets.

PANews, citing CoinDesk, reported that speculative yen short positions held by leveraged funds exceeded 115,000 contracts in the week ending June 9, the highest level since November 2017.

If the Bank of Japan raises rates to 1% as expected and signals further tightening, short-covering in yen positions could drive the currency higher. That would weigh on carry trades, in which investors borrow yen to invest in higher-yielding risk assets.

Following the Bank of Japan’s rate hike in July 2024, a stronger yen coincided with heightened volatility in Wall Street, the Nikkei index, and the cryptocurrency market. At the time, Bitcoin fell from around $65,000 to about $50,000.

Markets believe that if BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda hints at faster tightening or a rate increase above 1%, the crypto market, which is sensitive to liquidity changes, could come under pressure.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $316 million in net outflows last week, marking a fifth consecutive week of capital withdrawals.

Odaily, citing SoSoValue data, reported that U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs saw total net outflows of $316 million from June 8 to 12, Eastern Time.

The largest outflow came from BlackRock’s IBIT, which posted weekly net outflows of $355 million. Its cumulative net inflows stand at $62.11 billion.

Grayscale’s GBTC recorded net outflows of $87.9141 million last week. Its cumulative net outflows total $26.85 billion.

By contrast, Fidelity’s FBTC posted net inflows of $55.6961 million, making it the spot Bitcoin ETF with the largest inflow last week.

The total net assets of spot Bitcoin ETFs amount to $79.65 billion, accounting for 6.26% of Bitcoin’s total market capitalization. Cumulative net inflows stand at $53.62 billion.

According to Odaily, on-chain analyst Yu Jin said that the controlling address of SIREN sold 680 million SIREN tokens across multiple addresses over two days.

The amount represented about 94% of the total supply. After the sales, the SIREN price plunged 96%, from $1.30 to $0.05, with proceeds estimated at about 64.8 million USDT.

In terms of fund flows, around 200 million SIREN were moved to centralized exchange wallets including Binance, Gate, and KuCoin. A large portion of the remaining tokens was bought by hundreds of on-chain addresses after the price fell below $0.10.

Yu Jin added that the controlling SIREN address currently holds about 39.1 million USDT on-chain.

As the transition period for the EU’s MiCA crypto regulation ends on July 1, 2026, many existing crypto platforms may lose their legal eligibility to operate.

According to Odaily, citing CryptoSlate, only 194 crypto companies had obtained formal licenses in the EU as of May 2026. Considering that more than 3,000 crypto firms were registered in 2024, around 75% of existing platforms are expected to lose operating eligibility once the grace period ends.

Businesses that fail to secure a license must either gradually suspend services before the deadline, transfer users to licensed platforms, or exit the European market. France’s financial markets regulator warned that unauthorized operations could result in up to two years in prison and a fine of up to 30,000 euros.

If a platform used by customers fails to obtain a MiCA license, users may face restrictions on new deposits or be required to withdraw funds.

The Philippines has tightened crypto regulation by banning licensed exchanges from listing privacy coins.

PANews, citing Cointelegraph, reported that Philippine authorities are implementing measures that restrict accredited crypto exchanges from handling privacy coins.

Privacy coins are under scrutiny by regulators worldwide for anti-money laundering concerns because their transactions are difficult to trace.

Japanese crypto exchange bitbank plans to suspend accounts of users who made deposits or withdrawals related to decentralized prediction market platforms such as Polymarket, according to PANews.

According to local media outlet CoinPost, bitbank said that even if such services are based overseas, accessing them from Japan and earning profits through them could be considered gambling under Japanese law.

If an account is suspended, all functions including login, crypto and yen trading, and transfers will be restricted. bitbank added that it will not be responsible for losses resulting from account suspension.

Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) has opened an official office in Seoul and will initially focus on the crypto sector.

PANews, citing Chosun Biz, reported that a16z opened its Seoul office about six months after announcing its Asia expansion plan last December. The firm cited Korea’s tech talent, global competitiveness, and market receptiveness in AI, manufacturing, defense, crypto, and content as reasons for choosing Seoul as a hub.

The Seoul office will be led by Park Sung-mo, who oversees expansion into the Asia-Pacific crypto market. Drawing on his experience at Naver and the Monad Foundation, he will support a16z portfolio companies entering the Korean and broader Asian markets.

According to Odaily, SoSoValue data showed that spot XRP ETFs recorded $10.68 million in net inflows during last week’s trading period (June 8–12, U.S. Eastern Time).

By product, the Bitwise ETF XRP recorded the largest weekly net inflow at $4.968 million. Franklin Templeton’s ETF XRPZ posted net inflows of $3.6699 million.

As of publication, total net assets of spot XRP ETFs stood at $979 million, representing 1.39% of XRP’s total market capitalization. Cumulative net inflows totaled $1.44 billion.

Odaily, citing DefiLlama data, reported that Polymarket generated $1.18 million in revenue over the past 24 hours.

This exceeded Hyperliquid’s $814,944 over the same period. The market believes increased sports prediction demand driven by the start of the World Cup contributed to the result.