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The price of Bitcoin fell from nearly $103,000 to around $99,700 on Sunday morning after Iran’s Parliament approved the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most strategically important chokepoints for global trade and energy supply.

The parliamentary move, first reported by Reuters, came hours after the US launched coordinated strikes on Iranian nuclear targets, marking Washington’s first overt military intervention in the Iran–Israel conflict. President Donald Trump described the operation as “very successful” in a post on Truth Social on Saturday evening.

Tehran’s threat to close the Strait of Hormuz is interpreted as a direct response to escalating US military actions, but the closure is not yet in force. Implementation of the measure is now in the hands of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and, ultimately, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The Strait of Hormuz handles approximately 20 million barrels of crude oil daily, representing 20% of global daily consumption and almost one-third of seaborne oil trade.

As the only deep-water channel capable of accommodating the world’s largest oil tankers, the strait is essential for major economies including China, India, Japan, and South Korea, with China sourcing nearly half of its crude imports through this route.

Analysts warn that a possible closure could drive oil prices above $100 per barrel, with potential spikes to $120 or $150 if disruptions continue.

The impact would extend beyond energy costs, affecting household fuel bills, industrial inputs, and transportation expenses, as oil underlies the production and delivery of about 95% of global goods.

Economists estimate that the inflationary impact of rising oil prices could reduce global GDP by 1-2% if the strait remains closed for an extended period. Central banks face a challenging decision between raising interest rates to control inflation or easing policy to support economic growth.

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BUDAPEST, Hungary, June 21st, 2025, Chainwire

Byreal, the ultimate onchain liquidity layer for real assets, officially announced its brand launch today. In collaboration with Bybit and Solana Foundation, the platform sets out to build towards a truly distributed financial system accessible to everyone.

A Platform with Laser-Sharp Purpose: Bringing Authenticity Back On-Chain

At its core, Byreal is building a genuine, open, and transparent financial order. It seeks to welcome both professional and retail participants into a unified onchain economy where capital is deployed with conviction.

This vision is a direct response to what the DeFi space has become: overrun by short-termism, unaudited promises, and superficial growth signals. Byreal believes it is time to reset the narrative—to build infrastructure that rewards substance over noise.

To achieve this, Byreal focuses on three core principles:

• Builder-first – empowering quality projects through curated listings and community-centric launch mechanisms
• Trader-centric – offering CEX-level execution and tooling without compromising DeFi values
• Liquidity-deep – bridging blue-chip and real-world assets with Solana’s composability and speed

This foundational ethos translates into a suite of flagship products purpose-built to rewire the DeFi experience.

Introduces 3 flagship Byreal products – from DEX, Launchpad to Vault

1. Byreal DEX

Powered by a smart-routing engine that fuses CLMM and RFQ, the Byreal DEX enables gasless, zero price impact trades with robust MEV protection. In internal benchmarks, the DEX achieved quote speeds of under 200ms, with RFQ orders consistently executing at requested terms, delivering zero slippage and zero gas fees, setting a new standard for decentralized trading on Solana.

2. Reset Launch

The platform’s launchpad introduces features like the Smart Price Ladder, Fairshare Engine, and price-based allocation mechanics, a direct answer to the industry-harming inefficiencies of blind airdrop farming. Reset Launch enables real investors to access high-quality IDOs with fairness, transparency, and aligned incentives.

3. Revive Vault

Offering frictionless yield strategies, Revive Vault includes bbSOL-exclusive vaults, diverse ecosystem selections, and integrated on/off-chain yield flows. This empowers users to deploy capital across Solana with efficiency, security, and competitive returns.

Together, these products form a unified, full-cycle growth engine, supporting asset discovery, trading, and yield generation in one composable interface. Additionally, Byreal provides real asset accessibility, dual liquidity engines, and institutional-grade execution into a unified, full-cycle growth engine supporting asset discovery, trading, and yield generation across multiple ecosystems.

Emily Bao, Founder of Byreal, said, “A great exchange doesn’t just facilitate transactions — it helps the world discover what’s truly valuable and gives those assets the liquidity they deserve. The next wave of value won’t be unlocked by hype, but by platforms that help real assets find real markets. Byreal is built to do exactly that — turning fragmented liquidity into unified opportunity.” 

Ben Zhou, Co-founder and CEO of Bybit, states, “The future of trading lies in the seamless integration of centralized and decentralized exchanges. Byreal embodies this vision by serving as the on-chain outpost of CEX while bringing blue-chip assets and institutional-grade liquidity into the decentralized world. Bybit is proud to pioneer this CEX+DEX integration trend, leading the way for a new era of unlocking unprecedented liquidity and market access.”

Lily Liu, President of the Solana Foundation, said, “Byreal’s focus on improving liquidity infrastructure and bringing capital market assets onchain is closely aligned with Solana’s long-term vision. We’re encouraged by the team’s approach to building DeFi-native tools that prioritize accessibility, efficiency, and composability on Solana.”

Byreal’s testnet is live now, with its mainnet launch scheduled for late Q3 2025.

Note: Byreal is a standalone entity. It is not accessible through, or affiliated with any product offerings from Bybit Global or Bybit EU.

About Byreal

Byreal is the ultimate liquidity layer built for real assets, delivering unmatched liquidity for users. It integrates DEX, Launch, and Vault into a unified smart routing architecture, forming a full-cycle growth engine that supports asset discovery, trading, and yield generation across multiple ecosystems.

https://x.com/byreal_io

Contact

Founder
Emily Bao
Byreal
[email protected]

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Fed Governor Christopher Waller has shown support for an interest rate cut in July, saying that inflation is no longer a major economic threat and that the central bank should begin easing before any labor market slowdown.

Waller, speaking in a recent CNBC “Squawk Box” interview, argued that it would be unwise to wait for the job market to deteriorate before responding. He suggested that the Fed should begin discussing a potential rate cut in July rather than delaying action until conditions worsen.

“I’m all in favor of saying maybe we should start thinking about cutting the policy rate at the next meeting, because we don’t want to wait till the job market tanks before we start cutting the policy rate,” he said.

“That would be my view, whether the committee would go along with it or not,” the Fed Governor noted.

Waller’s comments came just days after the Fed decided to keep its benchmark rate unchanged at 4.25%–4.5%, in line with market expectations. The committee, including Waller, voted unanimously in favor of the hold.

The Fed has lowered its 2025 GDP growth estimate to 1.4% and raised its inflation forecast to 3%. While most measures of long-term inflation remain in line with the Fed’s 2% target, according to Chair Jerome Powell, short-term inflation expectations have ticked higher, driven in part by recent tariff policies.

On that point, Waller said he did not expect the new tariffs to substantially fuel inflation.

Despite Waller’s support for a potential rate reduction, CME FedWatch shows that most investors anticipate no change in interest rates in July. Futures markets and economists indicate a high probability that the Fed will begin cutting rates starting in September.

According to the Fed’s dot plot, seven of 19 meeting participants expect rates to hold steady this year, two forecast one cut, and ten project two or three reductions.

The median forecast still points to a half-percentage point cut for 2025. President Donald Trump has repeatedly urged the central bank to implement immediate and substantial interest rate cuts, including calls for cuts of 2% to 2.5% points.

Waller, however, advocates for a measured approach.

“You’d want to start slow and bring them down, just to make sure that there’s no big surprises. But start the process. That’s the key thing,” he said. “We’ve been on pause for six months to wait and see, and so far, the data has been fine.”

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Purpose Investments, Canada’s leading crypto ETF provider, has officially launched the Purpose XRP ETF on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The fund is the country’s first investment product that offers direct exposure to XRP, the fourth-largest crypto asset by market cap.

The launch follows Monday’s confirmation that Purpose Investments secured final OSC approval and was set to go live on Wednesday. The asset manager submitted a filing for its proposed ETF in January.

The Purpose XRP ETF, trading under the ticker XRPP, is available in CAD-hedged, CAD non-hedged (XRPP.B), and US dollar (XRPP.U) units.

Commenting on the launch, Vlad Tasevski, Chief Innovation Officer at Purpose Investments, said in a Wednesday statement that there is strong investor demand in Canada for accessible digital asset products, and “XRP ETF has been one of the most requested digital assets” in their product lineup due to its design for fast, low-cost global payments.

“With this launch, we’re not just adding another ETF,” said Tasevski. “We’re expanding a platform built to reshape how Canadians access the future of finance. Our track record in digital assets reflects a deep belief in blockchain’s real-world potential, and we remain focused on trust, access, and education to help investors and advisors navigate this evolving space with clarity and confidence.”

The ETF features institutional-grade custody through Gemini and Coinbase, allowing investors to hold it in registered accounts, such as TFSAs and RRSPs. It joins Purpose’s existing digital asset ETF lineup, which includes products offering exposure to Bitcoin, Ether, and Solana.

“The Purpose XRP ETF is a streamlined, advisor-ready solution that transforms XRP’s real-world utility into a secure, investable format,” said Paul Pincente, VP of Digital Assets at Purpose Investments.

Purpose Investments manages over $24 billion in assets and operates as a division of Purpose Unlimited, led by entrepreneur Som Seif.

XRP is trading at around $2.1 at press time, down 3.5% in the last 24 hours, per CoinMarketCap data. The digital asset surged around 8% on Monday on news of the Purpose XRP ETF launch.

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The price of ZKJ, Polyhedra Network’s native token, collapsed by more than 80% this morning after suspected coordinated liquidity removals by large holders.

ZKJ saw heavy volatility on June 15, tumbling from $1.9 to $0.2 before rebounding, CoinMarketCap data shows. However, the token resumed its decline shortly afterwards, falling below $0.3 at the time of reporting.

The token previously peaked at $4 in March 2024.

The KOGE token, known as the 48 Club token, associated with ZKJ, was also affected by market movement. The token plunged from around $62 to $24 during the same timeframe.

According to on-chain data analyst @ai_9684xtpa, three major wallets farming Binance Alpha points executed substantial withdrawals and sales on Sunday, triggering the steep decline.

The first wallet, starting with “0x1A29,” withdrew 61,130 KOGE worth approximately $3.7 million and 273,017 ZKJ valued at around $532,000, as per the analyst.

The second one, starting with “0x0781,” removed 33,651 KOGE worth over $2 million and 709,203 ZKJ worth an estimated $1.4 million. The third address liquidated 772,759 ZKJ for approximately $1.5 million.

The sell-off coincided with a token unlock that released an additional 15.53 million ZKJ tokens into circulation. It had previously maintained a steady trading price of around $2, generating liquidity of over $20 million, mainly as a result of Binance Alpha points.

In response to the token’s sharp price decline, Polyhedra Network said the incident was triggered by a series of abnormal on-chain transactions on the ZKJ/KOGE trading pair within a short timeframe.

The team added that the situation is under active review and promised to share further updates as they become available.

Dear Polyhedra community — we want to emphasize that the fundamentals of Polyhedra remain strong, both in our technology and in the incredible support from our community. We’re continuing to build and push forward as planned.
Today’s price drop was caused by a series of abnormal…

— Polyhedra (@PolyhedraZK) June 15, 2025

48 Club did not comment on the recent incident. However, the team drew attention after stating on Saturday that KOGE had been fully diluted from day one and clarifying that they had never promised not to sell.

Yes, $KOGE was fully diluted from day one.

And no — 48Club never promise we wouldn’t sell. Neither did Binance for $BNB, right?

Do your own research.
Take your own risk.

— 48 Club (Est. ’17) (@48Club_Official) June 14, 2025

This is a developing story. We’ll update as we learn more.

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Bitcoin slumped 5% to $102,900 early Friday after Israeli airstrikes hit Tehran, while spot gold surged to $3,429 in a flight to safety, TradingView data shows.

On Thursday, the leading digital asset managed a modest rebound to $108,450 from $107,000, even as markets absorbed bearish signals from reports that Israel had notified US officials of its intent to launch an operation against Iran.

Tensions escalated after Israel launched “Operation Rising Lion” against Iran, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stating, “This operation will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat.”

Prime Minister Netanyahu:
“Moments ago, Israel launched Operation Rising Lion, a targeted military operation to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival.

This operation will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat.” pic.twitter.com/3c8oF1GCYa

— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) June 13, 2025

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Israel took “unilateral action against Iran” and had informed the US that the strikes were necessary for self-defense, AP reported.

The military action comes amid heightened concerns over Iran’s nuclear program. The International Atomic Energy Agency’s Board of Governors censured Iran on Thursday for not cooperating with inspectors, prompting Tehran to announce plans for a third enrichment site and the deployment of advanced centrifuges.

The US has begun pulling some diplomats from Iraq’s capital and offering voluntary evacuations for US military families in the broader Middle East region. The State Department issued warnings for Americans to leave Iraq, citing “heightened regional tensions.”

Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff indicated that nuclear talks with Iran would continue, though Israel’s military action could escalate regional tensions and impact US interests.

Bitcoin has historically seen short-term price declines during periods of geopolitical turmoil, as investors tend to shift toward traditional safe-haven assets.

Nevertheless, the crypto asset has frequently rebounded swiftly, supported by its increasing perception as a digital store of value.

At the time of writing, BTC was trading at around $103,100.

The crypto market is under pressure as Bitcoin extends losses. Ethereum dropped below $2,500, while XRP fell to $2.1.

According to Coinglass data, leveraged liquidations across crypto assets surged to $1 billion in the last 12 hours. Long positions accounted for the vast majority of losses at approximately $937 million, compared to $67 million for short positions.

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Trump said Thursday that if inflation picks up next year, he would support the Fed’s decision to increase interest rates. Still, the US President added that Fed Chair Jerome Powell would still be slow to act, just as he believes Powell is currently dragging his feet on rate cuts.

“Let’s say there was inflation. In a year from now, raise your rates. I don’t mind, raise your rates. I’m all for it. I’ll be the one to be calling you,” Trump said at a White House event today, as first reported by Bloomberg. “He’ll be too late for that too.”

Trump clarified that he had no plans to remove the Fed chair, softening his remarks from last week that he would soon nominate someone new to lead the central bank.

His comments have revived succession chatter at the Fed, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent emerging earlier this week as a name of interest among Trump advisers.

Bessent has not confirmed nor denied any intention to pursue the role, while the White House has dismissed the report.

Trump also criticized Powell’s approach to monetary policy amid signs of easing inflation, saying the Fed has been too slow to reduce interest rates. He expressed frustration about how current rates are affecting government borrowing costs.

Despite Trump’s continued pressure, the Fed is widely expected to keep interest rates on hold at the upcoming FOMC meeting, CME FedWatch data has indicated.

The CPI report for May, published on Wednesday, showed a marginally softer reading than expected. However, year-over-year inflation ticked up to 2.4% from 2.3% in April, still exceeding the central bank’s 2% target.

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