[News Brief] Jun 12, morning | BlackRock’s Bitcoin Premium Income ETF Nears Launch

According to Odaily, an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said the Strait of Hormuz remains closed due to what he described as illegal actions by the United States.

The spokesperson said conditions for safe passage do not exist and warned vessels transiting the area to exercise caution. The Strait of Hormuz is a critical route for Middle Eastern oil shipments, and a prolonged closure could weigh on energy markets and risk-asset sentiment.

According to Odaily, Politico reported that the leaders of Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Pakistan persuaded President Trump to temporarily hold off on military action against Iran.

President Trump had warned earlier Thursday local time that he would take “very strong action tonight” against Iran. The leaders later said an initial agreement was close, and government officials and diplomats said the call influenced the decision to pause military action.

According to Odaily, Axios reported that key differences in U.S.-Iran agreement talks have narrowed through Qatari mediation.

Sources said Iranian officials and Qatari mediators held talks in Tehran on Wednesday, and gaps narrowed on three issues: the mechanism for releasing Iran’s frozen assets, reopening the Strait of Hormuz during a 60-day ceasefire, and the framework for negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program.

President Trump had previously said several times that an agreement was near, but Iran had not officially confirmed it. Iran reportedly informed some countries that a principle-level agreement had been reached, though final approval is still pending.

BlackRock has filed Form 8-A for its Bitcoin Premium Income ETF.

Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas said that an 8-A filing typically suggests a launch within about one week.

According to Bitcoin Magazine, the filing is interpreted as an administrative step ahead of the ETF’s listing. Form 8-A is a document submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to register securities.

U.S. Representative McClain said on Fox News that “big banks cannot stop the Bitcoin Clarity Act” and that “the bill will pass in one form or another.”

According to @pete_rizzo_, Rep. McClain said regulatory clarity for digital assets is “already taking hold and will continue,” adding that the Senate could pass related legislation within the next month.

The remarks came as the U.S. Congress discusses legislation to define crypto market structure and regulatory authority.

U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Commissioner Mike Selig said the Clarity bill would provide clear regulatory standards for Bitcoin and the digital asset industry.

According to Bitcoin Magazine, Commissioner Selig said in a Fox interview, “We are setting clear rules, and we want the United States to lead in digital assets.”

The Clarity bill is intended to organize regulatory authority and market structure for digital assets in the United States, and the industry is watching closely to see whether it reduces regulatory uncertainty.

According to PANews, the Bitcoin Core team said it identified a vulnerability in Private Broadcast, a new feature in Bitcoin Core 31.0, under which the sender’s IP address may be exposed to receiving nodes in certain network environments.

The feature was introduced to strengthen privacy in transaction propagation, but the issue suggests that its protections may be limited in some environments.

The Bitcoin Core team said it will fix the issue soon and include the patch in version 31.1.

PANews reported, citing on-chain analyst Eugene, that FTX and Alameda transferred 200,000 SOL, worth about $13.01 million, received from staking unlocks to multiple addresses.

Eugene said many of those addresses could later send the SOL to Coinbase or Binance.

Since November 2023, FTX and Alameda have reportedly used the same method to unlock and transfer a total of 10.75 million SOL, worth about $1.407 billion. The average transfer price was calculated at $130.9, and 2.985 million SOL, worth about $200 million, remains staked.

Fidelity Investments’ stablecoin FIDD has chosen Uniswap as its liquidity infrastructure.

According to Odaily, Uniswap said on X that the FIDD liquidity pool has launched on the Uniswap protocol. FIDD was officially launched in February for retail and institutional investors.

LG Electronics has decided to develop a new blockchain for advertising and media services based on Arbitrum, the Ethereum layer-2 network, according to Odaily.

The network will support the execution, buying, selling, and management of digital advertising, and will also be used to record interactions between users and advertising content. Following the report, Arbitrum’s native token ARB rose more than 5% on the day.

Arbitrum is an optimistic rollup network developed by Offchain Labs, designed to improve Ethereum transaction speed and reduce costs.

LG Electronics previously launched the enterprise blockchain Monachain through its IT services affiliate LG CNS, and has also introduced the cryptocurrency wallet Wallypto and the NFT marketplace Art Lab.