Daily Crypto Roundup: Bitcoin Defies Iran Strikes as Ripple Reveals XRP Shutdown Plan

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Welcome back to the Daily Crypto Roundup. Today we have got one of those strange days where the headlines look absolutely enormous, yet the crypto market itself is barely moving. The United States has launched fresh strikes against Iran, the Strait of Hormuz has reportedly been closed again, and yet Bitcoin is sitting remarkably calmly at around $64,000.
We are also going to look at an extraordinary revelation from Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, who says Ripple once seriously considered shutting the entire company down and distributing its XRP holdings to shareholders rather than fighting the SEC.
Then we have potentially worrying data showing that around $10 billion has disappeared from the stablecoin market since May. But before anybody starts screaming about another crypto winter, the numbers tell a far more complicated story. And finally, Morgan Stanley-linked Bitcoin holdings have reportedly jumped by nearly 1000 Bitcoin in just 2 weeks, taking the total tracked balance to more than 5700 Bitcoin, worth somewhere close to $370 million.
So there is a lot to get through. But before we start, make sure you are following the podcast wherever you are listening. And if you are looking for somewhere to buy, sell or trade crypto, you can find our Kraken link in the episode description. Anybody who signs up through that link and completes the requirements can also receive 20 XRP from us as a thank you for supporting the show.
Now let's get into it. The United States has now launched a fresh round of strikes against Iran, reportedly the third such round this week, while Tehran has once again declared the Strait of Hormuz closed until further notice. Under normal circumstances, a major military escalation involving the United States and Iran, combined with a threat to one of the most important oil routes on earth, sounds like exactly the sort of thing that would send risk assets into panic. But Bitcoin was down only around 0.3% over 24 hours, and remained approximately 2% higher over the week. Ethereum was similarly calm. XRP and Dogecoin moved only fractionally, while Solana has been the weaker major cryptocurrency over the past seven days.
This matters because roughly a fifth of the world's seaborne oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz. When Iran first closed the Strait earlier this year, Brent crude surged beyond $100 per barrel, and later reached approximately $120.
Bitcoin also suffered sharp sell-offs during previous escalations. This time, however, Bitcoin has effectively looked at another round of American military strikes and said, Is that it? Now we do need to be careful here, because traditional oil, stock and bond markets are closed over the weekend. Bitcoin is one of the only major global assets continuously pricing this news in real time. The bigger test could come when traditional markets reopen. If oil prices suddenly explode higher, inflation fears increase and global markets move aggressively into risk-off mode, then Bitcoin could still face renewed pressure. But if crude oil opens relatively calmly and Bitcoin continues to hold around these levels, I think that would be genuinely significant. One of the biggest criticisms of Bitcoin during recent geopolitical crises has been that it has behaved far more like a high-risk technology asset than digital gold. Whenever fear arrived, investors sold Bitcoin rather than running towards it. Nobody should declare victory after a quiet weekend, but Bitcoin showing resilience during another escalation between the United States and Iran is certainly better than seeing it collapse every time a missile is launched. And from global conflict, we move to one of the most incredible XRP stories we have heard in years. Brad Garlinghouse has revealed that Ripple once seriously considered shutting the company down entirely and distributing its XRP holdings to shareholders.
Think about how different crypto history could have been.
After the SEC sued Ripple in 2020, accusing the company of selling XRP as an unregistered security, Garlinghouse says that he and Ripple co-founder Chris Larson discussed whether fighting the United States government was even worth it. The easier option would have been to wind the company down, distribute its enormous XRP holdings among shareholders on a pro-rata basis, and effectively walk away.
Garlinghouse described the United States government as having almost infinite power and resources. And from a purely financial perspective, you can understand why shutting down might have looked tempting. Instead, Ripple chose to fight. The legal battle lasted around four years and according to Garlinghouse, cost the company approximately 150 million dollars in legal fees. But the decision also preserved hundreds of jobs and ultimately led to one of the most important legal victories the crypto industry has ever seen. When Judge Annalisa Torres ruled that XRP itself is not inherently a security. Just imagine the alternative timeline. Ripple disappears. Hundreds of people lose their jobs. The company no longer exists to develop its payments infrastructure. And one of the biggest legal battles over the status of cryptocurrencies in the United States potentially never reaches the conclusion that it did. Whatever your personal opinion of Ripple or XRP, the company choosing to fight rather than surrender had consequences far beyond the price of one cryptocurrency.