Market News: Bitcoin Falls Below $80,000 as US Strikes Iranian Tankers and Trump Pressures Warsh
Bitcoin is nursing losses as crude trades higher following a weekend of escalation in the US-Iran war.On Saturday, US Central Command confirmed striking three Iranian oil tankers — the M/T Downy, M/T Stark 1 and M/T Kylo — near Kharg Island, Jask and in the Gulf of Oman respectively."If you shoot at two of our ships, we will impose an even higher economic cost — taking out three of yours," Admiral Brad Cooper said following the attack.Centcom also updated figures on its naval blockade, reporting that US forces have redirected 92 merchant ships, disabled three and boarded two since operations resumed on July 14.Tehran said it would announce a restricted zone outside the Strait of Hormuz in coming days.Oil Up 6% in Seven Days With Diesel at Record HighsWTI changed hands at $92.72 and Brent reached $97 a barrel, its highest in seven weeks. Prices have gained over 6% in the first seven days of September, extending the recovery from the early July low around $70. Brent now sits 35% above where it traded in late February, before the war started.Diesel is the more consequential number. Prices for the fuel that powers transport, shipping, farming and manufacturing hit record highs last week and are roughly 90% above pre-war levels.That distinction matters for the inflation path. Diesel is an input cost across nearly every physical supply chain, which means it propagates into consumer prices more broadly and with less lag than gasoline. Elevated oil adds to inflation worldwide, making it harder for central banks to cut — which is why it is generally a headwind for liquidity-sensitive markets.US CPI arrives Friday, with headline forecast at 0.4% month-over-month against 0.1% previously and core holding at 0.2% while easing to 2.4% year-over-year.Trump Demands Lower Rates Days Before the Fed DecidesThe odds of a Fed hike strengthened Friday after August payrolls came in at 162,000 against forecasts near 56,000. President Trump immediately pushed the other way."The Fed Board, with its great new leader, must get smart — BE PATRIOTS for a change," he said in a Truth Social post. "A STRONG COUNTRY MEANS A LOWER INTEREST RATE — IT'S A BETTER CREDIT… Very simple!"He added: "We should have the LOWEST RATE of any country in the World … LOWER THE RATE OR I'LL STOP TRADING WITH COUNTRIES WITH WHICH WE HAVE A DEFICIT."That renewed push complicates matters for Chair Kevin Warsh, now caught between a dovish president and a strong labor market report. Rather than a rate hike itself, it is this uncertainty that could dampen animal spirits in Bitcoin and the broader market.The timing sharpens it. Fed officials are already in communications blackout ahead of the September 15-16 meeting, so no one can respond. Warsh has also rejected forward guidance outright — "committed to a discipline, not to a decision" — meaning markets get no signal either way until the decision.Markets price 58% odds of a September hike and 70% for October.Three Central Banks Are Moving Within Two WeeksThe Fed is not acting alone. The ECB is expected to lift rates to 2.75% on Thursday, with futures implying 75% odds of another move to 3.0% by December. Markets price a 75% chance the Bank of Japan raises a quarter point on September 18."Central bank patience through the energy shock has been supportive of asset prices and the credit cycle," said Bruce Kasman, global head of economics at JPMorgan. "However, central banks are now on the move."Synchronized tightening removes the rate-differential logic that normally supports the dollar during a Fed hiking cycle. The dollar fell 1% against the yen to 154.6 as the Japanese currency hit a seven-month high — a substantial reversal from the 160-plus level it breached only a week ago, when strategists placed intervention triggers at 161 and then 162-163.Hedge funds had added to short yen positions for two consecutive weeks per CFTC data. A seven-month high is those positions closing.Liquid Network Suffers a $320 Million ExploitLate Sunday, Liquid Network — used by exchanges as a settlement layer — faced a $320 million exploit.The figure places it among the larger incidents of the year, well above the roughly $120 million taken across four waves of the Coldcard exploit in late July and early August. Liquid functions as settlement infrastructure rather than a consumer-facing protocol, which means the exposure profile runs through institutional counterparties.Blockstream, which develops Liquid, is separately scheduled to publish source code for Core Lightning 26.06.7 security fixes on September 11. The two are distinct products and no connection between them has been indicated.Details on the exploit vector, affected parties and recovery prospects remain limited.The Political Backdrop Runs Beyond WashingtonTrump's pressure on the Fed is one instance of a broader pattern weighing on currencies.In Germany, the Alternative for Germany surged into first place in Saxony-Anhalt state elections Sunday — a far-right party within reach of state-level power for the first time since World War Two. The AfD has said one of its policies would be to ditch the euro."This development is dangerous for the longer-term stability of the single currency," said XTB research director Kathleen Brooks. In France, polls show Marine Le Pen would likely win the first round of next year's presidential election, having previously favoured abandoning the euro.The euro has fallen 1.1% this year, the weakest major against the dollar.Bitcoin traded near $79,700, down nearly 1% since midnight UTC, having moved back and forth around $80,000 through the weekend. Its 90-day correlation with the 10-year Treasury yield sits at −0.17 against gold's −0.41 — a spread that has kept it steadier than the metal through recent yield moves, though the carry trade remains the channel that correlation figures do not capture.
