Crypto Morning Report: The Strait of Hormuz closes again, Ethereum Foundation continues to sell ETH

Author: Deep Tide TechFlow

Yesterday’s market updates

Iranian media: the Strait of Hormuz has been fully closed

According to Iran’s Press TV: the Strait of Hormuz has been fully closed and has forced tankers to turn back.

Iran demands that tankers through the Strait of Hormuz pay Bitcoin as a transit fee

According to the Financial Times, during the two-week ceasefire period, Iran plans to impose transit fees denominated in cryptocurrencies on oil tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz to maintain effective control over the waterway.

A spokesperson for the Iran Oil, Gas, and Petrochemical Products Exporters Association, Hamid Hosseini, said that each tanker must report cargo information to Iranian authorities in advance via email. Iran will then notify the amount of transit fees due. The fee is $1 per barrel of oil, and empty tankers can transit for free. Payment must be made in Bitcoin to avoid the risks of asset tracing and freezing resulting from sanctions. It is understood that after the ship receives Iran’s assessment results, it will have only a few seconds to complete the payment.

The U.S. Treasury plans new anti–money laundering and sanctions compliance rules for stablecoin issuers

According to CoinDesk, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), under the U.S. Treasury, will jointly发布 proposed rules requiring stablecoin issuers to establish comprehensive anti–money laundering and sanctions compliance programs. Specific measures include freezing, intercepting, and rejecting suspicious transactions, as well as complying with relevant requirements under the Bank Secrecy Act. The rules emphasize an effects-based approach, arguing that financial institutions know their own risks best, and that issuers with robust compliance programs are typically able to avoid enforcement actions. The move aims to implement the GENIUS Act passed last year, which is expected to fully take effect in 2027.

Canary Capital files an S-1 registration statement for a PEPE ETF

According to SEC filings, Canary Capital has filed the S-1 registration statement for the Canary PEPE ETF, planning to start issuing after the registration becomes effective. Earlier, the firm applied for a large number of altcoin ETFs, which drew questions from the public over whether it was just for hype.

Ethereum Foundation continues to sell ETH; it has already sold 3,750 ETH, raising about $8.3 million

According to on-chain analyst EmberCN (@EmberCN), of the 5,000 ETH the Ethereum Foundation is planning to sell this time, 3,750 ETH have already been sold, raising about $8.3 million, with an average selling price of $2,214.

Morph releases stablecoin report: expects stablecoins to account for 10% of global cross-border payments by 2030

Morph released the State of Stablecoins report, forecasting that by 2030 stablecoins will account for about 10% of global cross-border payments. The report shows that the current annual trading volume of stablecoins has reached $3.3 trillion, exceeding the combined $2.55 trillion of Visa and Mastercard.

The report points out that stablecoins’ use in the real economy continues to expand. About 60% of money flows are driven by B2B payments, and companies’ adoption in scenarios such as treasury management and procurement has grown significantly. Morph forecasts that the annual settlement scale of stablecoins may exceed $5 trillion by 2026; in 2027, AI agents are expected to become major transaction initiators; and by 2030, the market size could reach $1.9 trillion.

Morph said it has launched a Payment Accelerator with a scale of $150 million to help institutions planning to deploy stablecoin solutions move forward with building on-chain payment infrastructure.

Polygon Labs seeks up to $100 million in funding for its payments business

According to The Information, Polygon Labs is seeking funding for its payments business, targeting up to $100 million. The negotiations are still ongoing.

Polymarket acquires Brahma to expand crypto and DeFi infrastructure

Prediction market platform Polymarket announced the completion of its acquisition of Brahma, a decentralized finance infrastructure company. Brahma focuses on on-chain asset execution and management. Its infrastructure will be integrated into Polymarket’s technology stack to improve transaction execution speed, market liquidity, and cross-chain interoperability, and to optimize the onboarding experience for users. Brahma’s three co-founders, Alessandro Tenconi, Akanshu Jain, and Bapireddy Karri, will continue to hold key roles in the combined team.

Yuga Labs and the RR/BAYC impersonation NFT case reach a settlement; nearly four years of litigation ends

According to a document disclosed by the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California on April 7, 2026, Yuga Labs and the defendants Ryder Ripps and Jeremy Cahen have reached a settlement agreement covering all lawsuit claims under case number 2:22-cv-04355. The case began in 2022. Yuga Labs accused the two defendants of issuing RR/BAYC series NFTs impersonating NFTs from the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), allegedly infringing trademarks. As part of the settlement, both sides will submit to the court a proposed consent injunction as one of the conditions of the settlement in the near term. The case officially ends.

ZachXBT discloses internal payment server data from North Korean IT workers

According to ZachXBT, an anonymous source shared stolen data from North Korea’s internal payment servers, covering 390 accounts, chat logs, and cryptocurrency transaction information. From the end of November 2025 to now, the related payment wallet addresses have received over $3.5 million in total. The funds were transferred out via exchanges or exchanged into fiat and deposited into China bank accounts through platforms such as Payoneer.

On-chain tracking shows that the internal payment addresses are linked to a known cluster of North Korean IT workers. One Tron payment address was frozen by Tether in December 2025. Three associated companies listed under users have been sanctioned by OFAC, including Sobaeksu. ZachXBT has compiled a complete organizational chart, with the data covering December 2025 to February 2026.

SBI Ripple Asia completes development of an XRP Ledger token issuance platform and completes qualification registration in Japan

According to CoinDesk, SBI Ripple Asia has completed development of a token issuance platform based on the XRP Ledger, and has completed registration in Japan as a prepaid payment instrument issuer. Enterprise users can now issue tokenized payment instruments through this platform.

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