Crypto News Today: US Strikes Iranian Tankers, Liquid Network Loses $320M — Bitcoin Holds $79K as Nvidia Targets $300 and Three Central Banks Move This Week
The US struck three Iranian oil tankers over the weekend, sending Brent to $97 and diesel to record highs. A $320M exploit hit Liquid Network Sunday. Trump demanded rate cuts as September hike odds sit at 58%. Bitcoin held near $79,300 — within 1% of flat through a payrolls beat that equities sold, and less than half as sensitive to rising yields as gold per 90-day correlation data. KOSPI surged 4.6% on OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra model. Wall Street analysts are calling Nvidia, Uber, and Marvell their top long-term picks — with Nvidia's fiscal 2028 revenue guidance of 70% growth nearly double the market consensus. CPI Friday is the last variable before the September 16 FOMC.Bitcoin Falls Below $80,000 as US Strikes Iranian Tankers and Trump Pressures WarshCENTCOM confirmed striking three Iranian oil tankers near Kharg Island, Jask, and the Gulf of Oman — WTI hit $92.72, Brent $97, its highest in seven weeks. Diesel hit record highs, running roughly 90% above pre-war levels — the more consequential inflation signal since diesel propagates through nearly every physical supply chain. September hike odds sit at 58%, with October at 70%. The ECB is expected to hike Thursday and the BOJ has 75% odds of a move September 18 — synchronized tightening that removes the rate-differential logic normally supporting the dollar during Fed hiking cycles. The dollar fell 1% against the yen to 154.6 as short yen positions covered. Liquid Network suffered a $320M exploit Sunday, among the largest incidents of the year. Bitcoin traded near $79,700, down just under 1%, having held around $80,000 through the weekend.Bitcoin Holds $79,000 as Hike Odds Reach 58% and Zcash Runs 45% in a WeekBitcoin held just above $79,300 Monday — up 2% on the week, within 1% of flat through a payrolls beat that sent equities lower and the 2-year Treasury to a 52-week high. Zcash cleared $1,000 for the first time since 2016 and is up 45% on the week — far outside anything explicable by macro flows. Privacy coins leading through a hawkish repricing describes a retail-driven bid indifferent to the rate path. Bitcoin ETFs took ~$770M across September's first four sessions, though $731M of that came from a single Thursday session led by IBIT's $454M — one large desk repositioning rather than broad allocator conviction. The July revision from -23,000 to +23,000 removed the no-two-consecutive-negative-readings constraint that had been the dovish case's last defense. CPI Friday is the only variable left before September 16.Seoul's KOSPI Closes Up 4.6% at Five-Week High on AI Optimism; Tokyo Gains, Hong Kong SlipsSeoul's KOSPI jumped 4.61% to 6,995 — its highest since July 23 and a third straight advance — as OpenAI's new GPT-6 Astra model stoked demand for memory chip names: Samsung +5.68%, SK Hynix +8.26%. Tokyo's Nikkei rose 2.12% led by Advantest, Tokyo Electron, and SoftBank. Taiwan's TAIEX gained 1.67%, with TSMC +2.07% and MediaTek hitting its 10% daily limit. Hong Kong slipped 0.93%, with Baidu -4% and Xiaomi -3%. Mainland China was mixed — Shanghai nearly flat but ChiNext +3.41% as AI-hardware and semiconductor names rallied. The KOSPI's 4.6% single-session gain on an AI model release confirms OpenAI product launches now function as direct demand signals for Korean memory chips.Wall Street Analysts Favor Nvidia, Uber, and Marvell for Long-Term ValueAs bond yields and Iran tensions drive market volatility, Wall Street analysts are flagging three stocks for long-term growth beyond the short-term noise. Morgan Stanley's Joseph Moore raised Nvidia's price target to $300 from $288 after strong Q2 fiscal 2027 results — the company's fiscal 2028 revenue growth guidance of 70% was nearly double the market's 40% consensus and well above Moore's own 52% forecast, keeping it his top semiconductor pick. Moore also maintained a Buy on Uber at $119, highlighting its evolution into a diversified platform with autonomous driving becoming a meaningful revenue driver. KeyBanc's John Vinh reiterated a Buy on Marvell at $400 after better-than-expected Q2 results, led by data center revenue growing 46% year-over-year to $2.17B. All three sit at the intersection of AI infrastructure demand — the same thesis driving KOSPI chip names and Bitcoin miner AI pivots — but at valuations reflecting sustained rather than speculative growth.Bitcoin's Yield Sensitivity Is Less Than Half Gold's, Correlation Data ShowsBitcoin's 90-day correlation with the 10-year Treasury yield stands at -0.17 against gold's -0.41 — meaning rising yields hit gold more than twice as hard as Bitcoin. The Bitcoin-gold correlation itself sits at 0.59, a six-year high matching 2020's COVID-stimulus period. The real-world test came last week: gold fell $400 in five days as the 10-year climbed above 4.81%; Bitcoin held choppy between $76,000 and $80,000, then cleared $80,000 with yields still elevated. The same divergence repeated after Friday's payrolls beat. The caveat: the dollar remains the variable that has done more visible damage to Bitcoin than yields, with the DXY hovering near its 2011 trendline support.
