April 13 — U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said it will begin enforcing a maritime blockade on all sea traffic to and from Iranian ports starting at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time on April 13 (10:00 p.m. Beijing time). CENTCOM said the measures will apply equally to all vessels entering or leaving Iranian ports and coastal waters, including Iranian ports along the Arabian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. The command added that it will not restrict freedom of navigation for vessels traveling to and from non-Iranian ports through the Strait of Hormuz. CENTCOM said additional guidance for commercial shipping will be issued through official notices ahead of any enforcement actions. Mariners are advised to monitor Navigational Warnings broadcasts and use Bridge-to-Bridge Channel 16 when operating in the Sea of Oman and near the Strait of Hormuz entrance.

A counterfeit "Ledger Live" app circulating on Apple's Mac App Store has reportedly emptied the retirement funds of musician Garrett Dutton, better known as G. Love of G. Love & Special Sauce. Dutton said he lost 5.92 BTC, valued at $424,175, on April 11 after setting up a new Mac. Searching for Ledger Live, he downloaded what appeared to be the official app and entered his 24word seed phrase. He said his Bitcoin balance disappeared immediately after he entered the recovery phrase. Onchain investigator ZachXBT confirmed the theft and said the stolen funds were traced to KuCoin deposit addresses. ZachXBT also criticized Apple's app review process, arguing the fake app cleared App Store checks. Apple has not commented. No legal action has been announced.

Brent crude rallied 8% at the market open to $104 after the United States and Iran failed to reach an agreement.

Justin Sun, founder of the Tron ecosystem, has publicly criticized World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a decentralized finance project co-founded by Donald Trump's sons, accusing it of running an opaque and rushed governance process tied to WLFI's governance-token lockup. Sun, who says he committed "significant capital" to WLFI as an early backer, pointed to a March governance proposal meant to set the lockup duration for voting tokens. He argued that the vote was neither fair nor transparent, claiming key information was withheld, participation was constrained, and outcomes were effectively predetermined. Sun made the comments in a Sunday post on X. WLFI rejected the allegations, accusing Sun of "playing the victim" and making unsupported claims. The project said it would pursue legal action if needed to defend its position. The clash comes as WLFI faces heightened scrutiny from its community after confirming that WLFI governance tokens were used as collateral for a loan. The disclosure coincided with a sharp selloff, sending WLFI's token to an all-time low near $0.07 and reviving debate over governance, transparency, and risk controls in Trump-linked crypto ventures. Governance concerns have also focused on voting concentration. A March proposal drew questions after more than 76% of voting tokens were reported to originate from 10 wallets, raising doubts about how outcomes are determined and whether the process can be influenced by a small group. Separately, WLFI said its token was used as collateral on Dolomite, a DeFi platform, to borrow stablecoins. WLFI has described itself as an "anchor" borrower and lender within its own ecosystem, a framing critics say could blur incentives between large token holders and platform governance. Cointelegraph said it contacted World Liberty Financial for comment but had not received a response by publication time.

Former President Donald Trump said the U.S. Navy would "effective immediately" begin the process of blockading any vessels attempting to enter or exit the Strait of Hormuz, describing the force as "the Finest in the World."

World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a Trump-backed project, has pushed back against Justin Sun's allegations that the token includes a "backdoor" blacklist mechanism, posting a four-word response on X: "See you in court pal." In the post, WLFI called Sun's claims "baseless" and accused him of "playing the victim" while making accusations "to cover up his own misconduct." The team said it has contracts, evidence and "the truth," and indicated it is preparing legal action. Sun previously invested $75 million in @worldlibertyfi. He says his wallet was blacklisted in September 2025, effectively locking about 545 million tokens that are now valued at under $50 million. On Tuesday, Sun publicly accused $WLFI of concealing a smart-contract function that would allow the team to freeze any holder's assets unilaterally and without notice. WLFI's statement did not directly address the existence of any such function. It framed Sun's comments as "the same playbook, different target," adding that "WLFI isn't the first."

Former President Donald Trump said the U.S. Navy "will begin the process of BLOCKADING" any ships attempting to enter or leave the Strait of Hormuz, describing the force as "the Finest in the World" and stating the action would take effect "immediately."

More analysts are pointing to private credit as a potential source of the next market shock as early stress signals emerge. Long viewed as a sturdier alternative to bank lending, the sector is now being tested by investors pushing to pull money out—exposing how limited liquidity can be when redemptions accelerate. In the first quarter of 2026, investors sought more than $20 billion in withdrawals, according to the newsletter's cited figures. Concern is rising because many private credit portfolios have sizable exposure to software companies, a segment facing growing disruption tied to AI-driven displacement. Crypto Rover summed up the broader critique in a post: private credit expanded to about $3.5 trillion by lending to riskier companies at higher rates and promising investors quarterly liquidity—until the flows reverse and exits become constrained. Several large managers have already moved to curb outflows. BlackRock, Apollo Global Management, and Blue Owl have imposed withdrawal limits, and Ares Management and Morgan Stanley have taken similar steps, underscoring what is described as an industrywide liquidity squeeze. Morgan Stanley expects default rates across the sector to rise from 5% to 8% over the next year. The same post also argued that private credit carries a distinct transparency risk: it is largely unregulated, relies on internal pricing, and lacks public-market trading, leaving outsiders uncertain about the true value of underlying loans. Regulators are also paying closer attention. Bloomberg reported that the Federal Reserve is asking major U.S. banks for details on their exposure to private credit after a jump in fund redemptions and an increase in troubled loans, citing people familiar with the matter. The report was highlighted by Mohamed A. El-Erian in a post dated April 11, 2026. Against that backdrop, S&P Dow Jones Indices is launching the CDX Financials index, a credit default swap (CDS) product linked directly to private credit funds. The index tracks 25 North American financial entities, and major banks are expected to begin selling the derivatives in the coming week. A CDS is a derivative used to hedge—or speculate on—the risk that a borrower will default. CDS instruments were central to the 2008 Financial Crisis: investors piled into CDS tied to mortgage debt, defaults surged, sellers struggled to cover losses, and the damage cascaded through the financial system. Analyst Mario Nawfal said the concern is less about identical scale and more about a familiar pattern: rapid growth, a first major stress test, and Wall Street responding by building new derivatives around the pressure point. The developments are intensifying questions about whether private credit can absorb a sustained wave of redemptions without spilling over into the broader financial system.

BlockBeats reported on April 13 that official data show Hyperliquid saw a sharp pickup in crude oil activity as traditional markets shut for the weekend. Open interest across its two oil contracts climbed above $1 billion, led by $670 million in WTIOIL and $334 million in BRENTOIL. Positioning also turned more bullish, with traders increasingly moving into longs; the 24-hour funding rate for both contracts rose to about 0.6%.