[News Brief] Apr 22, morning | U.S.-Iran Clashes and Falling Crude Inventories Push International Oil Prices Higher

International oil prices rose as further clashes between the United States and Iran coincided with a decline in U.S. crude inventories

According to reports, concerns over supply disruptions grew after the United States attacked an oil tanker and shot down an Iranian drone, while U.S. crude stockpiles also fell sharply.

Escalating tensions in the Middle East could lead to higher energy prices and stronger inflationary pressure, which may also weigh on risk-asset sentiment.

Source: PANews

According to SoSoValue, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded total net outflows of $519 million on June 2 (U.S. Eastern Time). Spot Bitcoin ETFs have now seen net outflows for 12 consecutive trading days.

The largest net outflow came from BlackRock's IBIT, which lost $389 million in a single day. IBIT's cumulative net inflows stand at $62.978 billion.

Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley's MSBT recorded net inflows of $14.7654 million. Total net assets of all spot Bitcoin ETFs were tallied at $84.997 billion, representing 6.28% of Bitcoin's total market capitalization.

According to Odaily, citing CoinGlass data, 277,481 traders were liquidated across the crypto market over the past 24 hours, with total liquidations reaching $1.777 billion

Long liquidations amounted to $1.597 billion, while short liquidations totaled $181 million. By asset, Bitcoin (BTC) accounted for $58.13 million, Zcash (ZEC) $53.88 million, Ethereum (ETH) $25.64 million, and LAB $19.66 million.

The largest single liquidation occurred on Hyperliquid's BTC-USD trading pair, with a value of $27.49 million.

BVIV, often referred to as Bitcoin's fear gauge, surged nearly 20%, marking its biggest daily increase since February 5

Source: PANews and CoinDesk. According to CoinDesk, BVIV, which measures Bitcoin's 30-day implied volatility, rose to 46.45%. The jump was attributed to heightened market anxiety after spot Bitcoin fell more than 6% to $66,000.

Over the previous two months, sentiment in the Bitcoin market had remained relatively stable. Even when Bitcoin fell from $82,000 to $75,000 last week, BVIV stayed near 40%, suggesting the decline had been viewed as orderly selling.

Mastercard is expanding its payments network to support stablecoin transactions and 24/7 financial services

Mastercard plans to operate regulated stablecoins alongside existing fiat payment systems and support financial institutions in handling real-time fund flows, including same-day settlement and weekend or holiday payments.

Initial supported assets include Circle's USDC, Paxos-issued PYUSD, USDG, and USDP, Ripple's RLUSD, and SoFi USD. Supported networks include Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, Base, Arbitrum, and XRPL.

Cross River, Lead Bank, CBW Bank, ARQ, and Nuvei were mentioned among the initial participating financial institutions. The move reflects a broader trend of traditional payment firms expanding stablecoin-based payment infrastructure.

Microsoft unveiled its new topological quantum chip, 'Majorana 2,' at its annual Build conference

Microsoft said the chip is 1,000 times more stable than its previous product, with an average qubit lifespan of 20 seconds and some lasting up to one minute. The company aims to achieve scalable quantum computing by 2029.

The announcement also renewed concerns over a so-called 'Q-Day,' when quantum computers could threaten public-key cryptography systems such as those used by Bitcoin. Reports estimate that around $461 billion worth of Bitcoin may be at potential risk due to exposed public keys.

Earlier, an a16z research partner warned that if quantum computers can forge Bitcoin's digital signatures, attackers could withdraw Bitcoin without authorization.

According to SoSoValue data, U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs posted net outflows of $90.1481 million on June 2 (U.S. Eastern Time)

The outflow streak has now extended to 16 consecutive trading days.

The largest net outflow came from BlackRock's ETHA, which lost $44.2681 million. This was followed by Grayscale Ethereum Mini Trust ETF, which recorded net outflows of $25.4062 million.

Total net assets of spot Ethereum ETFs stood at $10.53 billion, equivalent to 4.58% of Ethereum's total market capitalization. Cumulative net inflows were $11.24 billion.

According to Odaily, Lookonchain reported that Garrett Jin, known as the '1011 insider whale,' deposited a total of 577,700 ETH to Binance between May 6 and May 10

The deposits were worth about $1.35 billion, with an average transfer price of $2,337.

Lookonchain said ETH fell more than 20% after the transfers were completed.

The United States has imposed sanctions on Nobitex, Iran's largest cryptocurrency exchange

According to Watcher.Guru, the sanctions target Iran-linked financial and crypto transaction networks and could affect Nobitex's access to international transactions and settlement channels.

The New York Department of Financial Services and the European Banking Authority have signed a memorandum of understanding on regulatory cooperation for stablecoins

The two sides will share regulatory and confidential information related to the $314 billion stablecoin industry and establish procedures to identify market risks and strengthen supervision.

If a regulated entity faces serious operational or financial trouble, the parties will notify each other immediately and coordinate their response. They may also share information related to civil or criminal investigations when necessary.

The cooperation comes as European regulators warn of stablecoin-related bank-run risks and the possible weakening of monetary sovereignty. The memorandum is not legally binding.