🌍 Breaking: Trump backs Houthi in escorting the Strait of Hormuz—oil drops, but BTC unexpectedly surges to $80,000!

📉 Crude oil breaks $100: The Strait of Hormuz welcomes “guidance”
On Sunday, Trump announced that he would launch the “Freedom Plan” at 5 a.m. Middle East time on May 4, deploying missile destroyers, more than 100 aircraft, and 15,000 troops to “guide” ships trapped in the Strait of Hormuz out of the area. He also warned of “productive dialogue” between the US and Iran. Along with OPEC+ announcing an average daily production increase of 188,000 barrels, WTI crude futures plunged nearly 3% in a straight drop early Monday morning, at one point falling below $100 per barrel.
📈 Bitcoin breaks $80,000: An unexpected winner of risk aversion
While oil prices crashed, Bitcoin surged past $80,000 instead, rising 2.6% on the day—its first time since January 31 that the asset has stood above this level. According to CoinDesk data, during the short-term short squeeze, the crypto market saw more than $116 million in liquidations within an hour, about $114 million of which came from short positions. Cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum and XRP all moved higher across the board.
💡 Key perspective: The US credibility premium replaces the military premium
Behind the seemingly diversionary hedging setup, a clearer logic is taking shape—
Oil is falling because the market believes “US coordination channels are more reliable than Iranian military threats,” and expectations of a shipping supply recovery are arriving early.
Bitcoin is rising because, after some capital profited in the oil market, it rotated into alternative assets with the lowest degree of association with geopolitics and the strongest store-of-value attributes.
The common thread behind these two major headlines is this: the market is re-pricing “whose commitments are worth more.” When the US doesn’t send warships to escort trade but instead keeps the wheels turning through deployment, coordination, and intelligence advantages, its credibility premium is quietly replacing the traditional military premium. And Bitcoin’s rally against the market trend—hitting a daily limit—shows that in an era full of uncertainty, some people’s safe havens are not the same as others.