Today in crypto, Bitcoin surged above $76,000 as oil futures fell 10% after Iran’s foreign minister declared the Strait of Hormuz open for the remainder of the ceasefire between the US, Israel and Iran, the Ethereum Foundation shared details of the Ketman Project that it funded, which identified 100 North Korean operatives working in the crypto space, and US CFTC Chair Michael Selig said the vacancies of four other commissioners at the agency won’t slow the regulator’s rulemaking.
Bitcoin rises, oil falls after Iran says Strait of Hormuz is open
Iran’s foreign minister said Friday that the Strait of Hormuz is open to commercial vessel traffic for the remainder of the current ceasefire, prompting quick market reactions.
“In line with the ceasefire in Lebanon, the passage for all commercial vessels through Strait of Hormuz is declared completely open for the remaining period of ceasefire,” said Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi in a Friday X post.
US President Donald Trump confirmed the opening of the passage in a Friday post on Truth Social.
Bitcoin (BTC) briefly hit $77,037 on Friday following the news, rising around 1%, following a 5% weekly recovery, according to TradingView data.
Brent crude oil futures sank to around $85 per barrel, falling 10% on the news, according to Tradingeconomics data.
Easing geopolitical tensions may bring more risk appetite among crypto investors. However, the two-week ceasefire between the US, Israel and Iran is set to expire on April 22, with the threat of renewed escalation continuing to weigh on market sentiment.
EF-funded program exposes 100 DPRK workers in crypto
The Ethereum Foundation said it funded a six-month project that exposed 100 North Korean operatives who had infiltrated Web3 companies under fake identities.
The foundation on Thursday shared a recap of its ETH Rangers program, which was launched in late 2024 to provide "stipends for individuals doing public goods security work" within the ecosystem.
One of the recipients used the capital to build the Ketman Project to focus on investigating “fake developers” embedded within crypto, particularly operatives from the North Korea.
During the six-month stipend period, the Ketman Project identified "100 different DPRK IT workers operating within Web3 organizations" and reached out to about 53 projects to alert them about having potentially employed active DPRK operatives.
"This work directly addresses one of the most pressing operational security threats facing the Ethereum ecosystem today," the Ethereum Foundation said.
With no bipartisan leadership, CFTC won’t “slow down” on rulemaking
The chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Michael Selig, said he would not wait for the appointment of additional commissioners to lead the regulatory agency before moving ahead on rulemaking potentially related to digital assets and prediction markets.
In a Thursday hearing of the House Agriculture Committee, Selig responded to questions from ranking member Angie Craig, who called out the lack of leadership at the CFTC, which normally has a bipartisan panel of five commissioners. The Minnesota representative asked the chair to commit to not finalizing regulations while he is the only commissioner.
“In the interim, we cannot, for the sake of the American people, slow down in our rulemaking,” said Selig. “It’s very important that we get investor protections, consumer protections and safeguards for our markets. And so, I cannot, unfortunately, commit to not do my job that I was appointed to do by the president.”
Selig, who has served as the CFTC’s sole commissioner and chair since December, has come under scrutiny from many lawmakers for unilaterally leading the agency on rules favoring crypto and prediction markets with no bipartisan group of commissioners. As of Thursday, President Donald Trump had not publicly announced any nominations to staff the agency nor signaled he intended to do so.
