[News Brief] Apr 22, morning | Report says Iran and the Axis of Resistance decide on a full closure of the Strait of Hormuz

Report says Iran and the Axis of Resistance decide on a full closure of the Strait of Hormuz

Odaily, citing Iran’s Tasnim News Agency, reported that Iran and the Axis of Resistance have decided to fully close the Strait of Hormuz.

According to the report, other fronts, including the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, could also be activated as part of the response. Iran maintains that it will not enter negotiations until its demand for Israel to halt operations in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip is accepted.

The Strait of Hormuz is a critical transit route for Middle Eastern crude exports. If a blockade becomes reality, volatility across global oil prices and broader financial markets could increase significantly.

BTC spot ETFs saw $1.42 billion in net outflows last week, the third-largest on record

Odaily, citing SoSoValue data, reported that U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $1.42 billion in net outflows from May 25 to 29, Eastern Time. This marks the third-largest weekly net outflow on record.

The product with the largest outflow last week was BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF, IBIT, which lost $966 million. It was followed by Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, GBTC, with weekly net outflows of $175 million.

As of the time of reporting, total net assets of spot Bitcoin ETFs stood at $94.17 billion. ETF net assets accounted for 6.38% of Bitcoin’s total market capitalization, while cumulative net inflows reached $55.66 billion.

$247 million liquidated across the crypto market in 4 hours, dominated by longs

According to CoinGlass, $247 million worth of positions were liquidated across the crypto market over the past four hours. Long liquidations totaled $227 million, while short liquidations came in at $20.7 million.

By asset, Bitcoin saw the largest amount of liquidations at $136 million, followed by Ethereum at $44.89 million. The heavy long liquidation suggests that deleveraging intensified during the short-term price decline.

U.S. stocks fall shortly after the open; Coinbase -5.64%, Robinhood -7.81%

U.S. equities moved lower shortly after the market open, with crypto-related stocks also showing weakness.

PANews, citing Bybit data, reported that the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.30%, the Nasdaq Composite declined 0.18%, and the S&P 500 slipped 0.13%.

Among crypto-related stocks, Coinbase dropped 5.64% and Robinhood fell 7.81%.

DXY rises to 99.23 on reports of a halt in Iran communications; WTI jumps 6%

According to Odaily, reports that Iran had suspended communications with the United States pushed the U.S. Dollar Index (DXY) as high as 99.23 intraday.

Spot gold fell 1.54% intraday to below $4,470 per ounce, while WTI crude futures surged 6.00% to $92.61 per barrel.

Heightened geopolitical tensions and a stronger dollar could weigh on sentiment toward risk assets.

Zcash Foundation urges immediate upgrade to Zebra 4.5.1 to fix consensus-level security vulnerability

According to Odaily, the Zcash Foundation has released the Zebra 4.5.1 update and urged all node operators to upgrade immediately.

The update fixes a consensus-level security vulnerability (GHSA-2prc-cj5x-4443) related to an error in sigops counting for P2SH transactions. The issue could cause differences in transaction validation results between nodes, potentially leading to chain split risks.

The fix included in the earlier Zebra 4.5.0 release was found to be incomplete. The Zcash development team said it reverted and adjusted the Rust implementation logic to align with protocol specifications.

The Zcash Foundation said there is currently no alternative workaround and that upgrading to 4.5.1 is the only way to keep nodes on the correct chain.

ETH spot ETFs posted $241 million in net outflows last week

Odaily reported, citing SoSoValue data, that spot Ethereum ETFs saw $241 million in net outflows from May 25 to 29, Eastern Time.

The product with the largest weekly outflow was BlackRock’s ETHA, which saw $188 million leave the fund. ETHA’s cumulative net inflows stand at $11.43 billion.

Grayscale’s ETHE recorded net outflows of $29.2457 million, bringing cumulative net outflows to $5.31 billion.

Meanwhile, BlackRock’s ETHB posted net inflows of $12.4387 million. Total net assets of spot Ethereum ETFs stood at $11.27 billion, representing 4.62% of Ethereum’s market capitalization.

NYDIG: $1.26 billion IBIT block trade likely reflects large investor redemption rather than hedge fund basis unwind

According to the source, NYDIG analyzed that the $1.26 billion block trade in BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF, IBIT, was more likely a rapid capital withdrawal by a large investor than a typical hedge fund basis trade unwind.

The trade was executed on May 26 at $43.16 per share, 2.3% below the market price of $44.17 at the time. The transaction cost was estimated at approximately $29.5 million.

NYDIG said the discount suggests the seller prioritized speed and execution certainty over price. It also argued that if this had been a basis trade unwind, the discount would have significantly reduced the strategy’s expected returns.

CME Bitcoin futures trading volume also did not show an unusual spike at the time of execution. According to NYDIG, only 91 CME Bitcoin futures contracts traded during that period.

The trade came amid continued outflows from U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs. From May 15 to 29, there were net outflows for 11 consecutive trading days, and total assets fell from $107.75 billion to $94.17 billion.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs log net outflows for 10 straight trading days, totaling $2.97 billion

According to Odaily, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded net outflows for 10 consecutive trading days, with the cumulative total reaching $2.97 billion.

As Bitcoin and major digital assets declined over the past week, redemptions also continued in Ethereum-related funds. In contrast, Hyperliquid’s HYPE token and newly launched U.S. spot ETFs continued to attract inflows, showing stronger performance than the broader market.

Strategy shares fall about 8% shortly after U.S. market open

PANews reported that Strategy shares fell about 8% shortly after the U.S. market open, trading around $147.50.

Strategy is widely categorized as a Bitcoin-related stock due to its large Bitcoin holdings. The decline came amid weakened investor sentiment early in the U.S. trading session.