Oil prices surged past $100 a barrel on Monday after President Donald Trump ordered the US Navy to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, following the collapse of nuclear negotiations with Iran over the weekend.
Crypto markets briefly sold off, then reversed. Bitcoin (BTC), which initially dipped below $71,000 at the open, clawed its way back above $72,000 as the session progressed, defying the kind of risk-off shock that would once have sent it sharply lower.
Why Oil And Bitcoin Were Supposed To Move In The Same Direction
The logic was simple. A military blockade of the world's most important oil chokepoint should spell disaster for risk assets. Around 20% of global oil supply and 20% of liquefied natural gas flows through the Strait of Hormuz every single day.
When Trump announced the blockade on Sunday night, West Texas Intermediate crude futures jumped 7% on the Hyperliquid platform almost instantly and Bitcoin, which has tracked macro risk sentiment closely throughout the US–Iran conflict, fell in tandem.
Then Something Unusual Happened
Rather than extending its losses, Bitcoin stabilized and pushed higher. Digital asset fund products attracted $1.1 billion in weekly inflows, the strongest since January, as easing geopolitical tensions and cooler U.S. inflation data revived investor appetite.
, according to institutional flow data.
On Monday, Michael Saylor, CEO of Strategy, announced that the company acquired 13,927 BTC for about $1 billion at a price of approximately $71,902 per Bitcoin and now holds 780,897 BTC acquired for $59.02 billion at $75,577 per Bitcoin.
The Iran Crypto Connection You Probably Missed
There's a strange subplot running beneath this geopolitical crisis. Since mid-March, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had been charging oil tankers up to $2 million per vessel to safely transit the Strait of Hormuz, accepting payment in Bitcoin, USDT, or Chinese yuan, according to reporting from CoinDesk and Bloomberg.
The crypto tolls were a sanctions-busting workaround as digital assets can't be easily seized or frozen under US financial restrictions. With a naval blockade now in place, those crypto transit corridors are almost certainly finished, but the episode underscores just how deeply Bitcoin has embedded itself in global trade, even in the most unlikely places.
What This Means For Crypto Investors This Week
The Fear and Greed Index sat at 45, deep in "Extreme Fear" territory as Monday's session opened. But Bitcoin's refusal to break below $70,000 for a fourth consecutive day is being read as a bullish signal by analysts, with some pointing to a potential retest of $74,000–$75,000 if geopolitical tension fails to escalate further.
The Senate also returns from Easter recess today, with the Clarity Act back on the legislative agenda, adding regulatory news flow to an already event-heavy week for crypto.
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