Bitcoin pared a sharper decline Thursday as stocks recovered after reports that Iran is preparing a protocol with Oman to coordinate traffic through the Strait of Hormuz — a development that eased immediate fears of oil-supply disruption.
Markets: The Nasdaq largely clawed back an early 2% drop. WTI crude, which had jumped toward $115 per barrel earlier amid heightened geopolitical rhetoric, slid roughly $5 on the news. Crypto followed equities’ improvement but remained notably down over the past 24 hours: Bitcoin was trading near $66,700, off about 3%, while ether sat around $2,060, down roughly the same. Crypto-related stocks such as Coinbase and Robinhood also posted losses.
Why it mattered: The Strait of Hormuz is a critical artery for global oil shipments, so any suggestion of coordination or conflict there moves oil and risk assets. Iran’s deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, Kazem Gharibabadi, characterized the draft measures as coordination (not control) with Oman — intended to monitor traffic and “facilitate and ensure safe passage” for vessels, he said. That framing helped calm immediate disruption worries.
Context: The pullback in risk assets followed a late-night escalation from U.S. President Donald Trump, who vowed to strike Iran “extremely hard” in coming weeks and said the Strait of Hormuz would “open naturally” once the conflict ends. Those comments had pushed oil and risk-off flows higher earlier, contributing to crypto’s volatility; the subsequent diplomatic signal from Iran and Oman brought some relief and prompted the partial market recovery.
Bottom line: Geopolitical headlines around the Strait of Hormuz drove a volatile session across oil, equities and crypto — with Bitcoin and ether trimming bigger losses as risk sentiment stabilized after news of Iran-Oman coordination.
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