“It is “Sealed up Tight,” until such time as Iran is able to make a DEAL!!!”

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• Tokenised Markets on Bitget UEX: How Traders Are Utilising 24/7 Real-World Assets For Real Time Macro Hedging
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• Volatility Report: February 2026

• 2026 – the year of RWA perps?
  

Market Snapshot: Overnight Moves

Daily Updates:

• An escalation in geopolitical tensions between the US and Iran that could prolong the shutting of the Strait of Hormuz has taken a toll on risk sentiment. 
• Both sides continue to maintain their blockade of the waterway as peace talks in the now eight-week long conflict have come to a standstill.

• President Trump ordered the US Navy yesterday to shoot any boat putting mines in the Strait, while claiming “No ship can enter or leave without the approval of the United States Navy” as the Strait is “‘Sealed up Tight’ until such time as Iran is able to make a DEAL!!!”. 
• The US military also reportedly intercepted two oil supertankers that tried to bypass US restrictions on traffic passing to and from Iran’s ports. 

• Later in the day, Iranian news agency Tasnim reported that the US tried to seize an Iranian ship escorted by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as it passed through the Sea of Oman, but was unable to. 
• Another Iranian news agency, Mehr, reported that Iran had activated air defense systems in parts of Tehran to defend against “hostile targets”. 
• Despite the rising tensions, President Trump still claimed that Iran wants to make a deal, and the US has been speaking with his Iranian counterparts. Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Wednesday however that while the country welcomes talks, the “blockade and threats are main obstacles to genuine negotiations.”

• Oil prices have risen for a fifth consecutive day as both sides use their leverage to blockade the key waterway — Brent crude is up more than 12% in the past five days, trading around $107 per barrel. 
• According to the White House, the US’s blockade is causing Iran to lose $500M per day — Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said “The point of this is the economic leverage that we maintain over Iran now. And the crux of that is this naval blockade. We are strangling their main source of revenue.”

• BTC pared back some of its gains after reaching an intra-war high of $79,500 and is currently trading slightly below $78K. 
• Spot Bitcoin ETFs continue to provide significant support for BTC, having purchased $223.3M worth of bitcoins yesterday. 
• Thursday’s inflows mark the eighth straight consecutive day of net buying, a streak last seen between Sep 29, 2025 and Oct 9, 2025, when the net inflows were positive for nine sessions straight. 
• The S&P 500 finished yesterday’s session down 0.41% after reaching a new all-time high on Wednesday. 
• That was still better than the intraday low that saw the benchmark index fall as much as 1.3%.

• Metaplanet is issuing roughly $50M in zero-interest bonds to fund further bitcoin purchases, according to their post on X.
• The bonds were fully subscribed by EVO Fund and mark Metaplanet’s 20th ordinary bond issuance.
• The company has been steadily accumulating bitcoin since April 2024 and holds 40,177 BTC as of 31 March 2026, after adding 5,075 BTC in the first quarter.
• The move comes despite Metaplanet reporting a large fiscal-year loss, mostly due to unrealised losses on its bitcoin holdings.

• Paradigm-backed Succinct Labs has launched ZCAM, an iPhone camera app designed to verify the authenticity of photos and videos at the point of capture, stated in their official statement.
• The app aims to address the growing challenge of AI-generated and manipulated media by shifting the focus from post-hoc detection to cryptographic proof. 
• ZCAM signs photos and videos on-device, using Apple’s Secure Enclave and App Attest service to link each piece of media to the device and application that captured it.
• The resulting signature and provenance data are embedded into the file through a C2PA manifest, allowing third parties to independently verify whether the content is authentic and unaltered.

• Lido Labs has proposed that the Lido DAO allocate up to 2,500 stETH, worth roughly $5.8M, to support a recovery package following the recent Kelp exploit.
• The proposed contribution is intended to help reduce the shortfall in Kelp’s rsETH backing, which emerged after the LayerZero-related exploit.
• Lido said the incident has created wider stress across DeFi venues, including pressure on market rates, lending markets, vaults, and looping strategies linked to rsETH and stETH liquidity.

• 3F, a vault protocol built on Morpho, has raised $4M to develop leveraged exposure products for tokenized real-world assets.
• The funding includes a pre-seed and seed round, with the latter led by Maven 11 and participation from F-Prime, GSR, Susquehanna Crypto, Gate Ventures, and others. The capital will support product development ahead of a private beta and a broader launch expected in Q2.
• 3F is designed to simplify leveraged RWA strategies that are currently operationally complex. Instead of manually looping positions by buying an asset, posting it as collateral, borrowing stablecoins, and repeating the process, users will be able to select a supported RWA and leverage factor through a one-click interface.
• The protocol will initially support JAAA, a tokenized AAA CLO fund from Anemoy, sub-managed by Janus Henderson and tokenized by Centrifuge.

• Bitmine has staked roughly $320M worth of ETH over the past 24 hours, bringing its total staked ether position to around 3.5M ETH, valued at more than $8B.
• The latest allocation was routed through Coinbase Prime, with onchain data showing around 75,600 ETH moved for staking on Thursday, following a separate tranche of more than 61,200 ETH the previous day.
• Bitmine is now generating yield on approximately 70% of its total ether holdings.

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