Trump has turned the Hormuz into an oil sales channel from a military threat. Where banks have exited bulk trade finance, stablecoins have stepped in.
1 | Trump Orders Blockade of the Hormuz, While Pitching U.S. Oil Sales to China
Islamabad 21-hour talks collapse, Trump orders the Navy to immediately blockade the Strait of Hormuz, intercepting all vessels paying transit fees to Iran. Effective time of execution is Monday 10 a.m. UK refuses to participate in the blockade but will send minesweepers to clear mines. CENTCOM states it will not intercept vessels heading to non-Iranian ports.
Oil prices surge. Sunday night Brent skyrocketed over 7%, falling back to around $98 per barrel in Monday's Asian session, WTI jumping from last Friday's close of $96.57 to near $104. EIA data shows a global loss of about 7.5 million barrels per day due to strait closure, expected to expand to 9.1 million bpd by April. Strategic oil reserves are running low, with a supply gap that could double in a matter of weeks. Less than 10 days remain until the ceasefire, with no schedule set for the next round of talks.
The blockade is not just military pressure. Trump simultaneously calls out to China: "Bring your ships here, or go to Venezuela." Brookings Institution's Robin Brooks analyzes that the blockade could "cripple the Iranian economy" by pressuring Tehran through cutting off China, its largest buyer. The blockade is a weapon, and alternative supply is business.
(Source: Fortune / CNBC / NPR / EIA / Brookings Institution)
2 | Iran War Drives Stablecoin Trade Finance, Crypto Exchanges Begin Oil Price Discovery
Western banks are withdrawing from commodity trade finance. Legitimate trades through hubs like Oman may indirectly link to Iranian sanctioned entities, leading banks to choose direct disconnection. "Debanked" commodity traders are turning to stablecoin settlements, with USDT seeing a surge in usage in emerging market bulk trades. The total market cap of stablecoins has exceeded $300 billion, with a projected trading volume surpassing $40 trillion by 2025.
Iran itself is also using cryptocurrency. Oil tankers transiting the Hormuz are being charged up to $2 million in transit fees, accepting payment in RMB, Bitcoin, and USDT. Meanwhile, oil perpetual contracts on Hyperliquid surged by 7% after the blockade announcement, with Bitcoin dropping to $71,000. Crypto derivative exchanges are becoming price discovery tools during traditional market off-hours.
This is not a speculation-driven narrative. What banks are not doing, the blockchain is. The Iran war did not create this trend but has accelerated the timeline by several years. When the oil price trend on Hyperliquid aligns with Brent, the parallel financial system of DeFi is no longer "parallel."
（Source: CoinDesk / TRM Labs / Fortune）
3｜Apple's AI Head Officially Departs as Company Shifts Focus to AI Glasses
Apple's former AI chief, John Giannandrea, has ended his sabbatical this week and officially left the company. He was brought to Apple from Google in 2018 and had his authority over Siri, robotics, and the AI team stripped in March 2025. The catalyst was Apple Intelligence's underperformance and the delayed upgrade to Siri. His successor is former Microsoft AI researcher Amar Subramanya.
On the same day, Bloomberg revealed that Apple is testing four designs for AI smart glasses featuring an oval camera, aiming for a late 2026 release. This is not the previously rumored full AR version but a product closer to Meta's Ray-Ban in terms of lightweight design. From Vision Pro's spatial computing to Ray-Ban-level lightweight glasses, the product positioning has narrowed significantly.
Apple's strategy in the AI race is increasingly defensive. With a change in leadership, reduced ambitions, and a safer hardware route chosen. The bet on smart glasses lies in "whoever controls the wearable scene controls the AI gateway," but provided the AI itself is sufficient. Unable to win in the model competition, retreat to the interface layer. Whether this card can be played depends on whether Apple can deliver a non-disappointing AI experience by the end of the year.
（Source: Bloomberg / 36Kr / TechCrunch / MacRumors）
4｜Linux Kernel Sets Rules: AI Assistance Allowed, AI Substitution Not Permitted, Incident Response Falls on Human
After months of debate, Torvalds and Linux kernel maintainers have reached a consensus. They will allow the use of AI coding assistance tools like Copilot but prohibit the submission of AI-generated code without human review (referred to internally as "AI slop"). All AI-assisted code will have legal and quality responsibility borne by the submitter.
The key logic is not to ban AI but to clearly assign accountability. Machines can help you write, but your name is on the commit. In case of security vulnerabilities, license violations, or quality issues, the committer holds full responsibility. This set of rules distinguishes between the "tool" and the "author," drawing a line that has not been drawn before.
Governments around the world are still discussing an AI legislative framework. An open-source community with no legal entity has already made an executable decision. The rule is effective not because of enforcement, but because the Linux ecosystem's consensus on code quality is harder than any regulation. The world's most important open-source project has set rules for AI-generated code for the first time, and this precedent will be referenced for a long time.
(Source: Tom's Hardware / The Verge / Linux Kernel Mailing List)
Worth Knowing ↓
The Fed proposes FedNow to support cross-border payments. The April 8 proposal allows U.S. banks to use FedNow through intermediaries for international transfers, paving the way for real-time cross-border settlement. A 60-day comment period. Stablecoins are moving faster in the cross-border race, but the Fed's pace of catching up this time is not slow either.
(Source: Federal Reserve / Finextra)
Tether-affiliated Super PAC's first ad spend flows to the founder's own company. Fellowship PAC claims to raise $100 million, with the first $300,000 in ad fees going to Nxum Group, founded by Tether US CEO Bo Hines, who was a White House crypto policy advisor last year. The crypto industry's largest political action committee, Fairshake, holds $193 million to prepare for the midterms.
(Source: CoinDesk / OpenSecrets)
Saudi East-West pipeline restored to full capacity for 7 million barrels/day. The pump station that was attacked hours after the ceasefire has been repaired, and exports in the Red Sea direction have resumed. With the strait blockade in place, alternative routes around the Red Sea have become more critical.
(Source: Fortune)
Rockstar Games confirms data breach, hacker's ransom deadline until April 14. ShinyHunters breached a Snowflake instance through cloud service provider Anodot. Rockstar stated that the leaked data does not involve core systems.
(Source: The Verge / Kotaku)
