ChainThink Daily Report (Apr 7): Trump's White House Briefing, Iran Conflict Developments, Whiplash Across Global Markets

By ChainThink Key takeaways (past 24 hours) - Trump's White House remarks: Iran's 10-point response "not sufficient" but "important"; floated the idea of charging tolls in the Strait of Hormuz - Iran replied to a U.S. "15-point ceasefire plan" with a 10-point proposal - Risk assets swung sharply again; crypto remained volatile - OpenAI internal friction resurfaced around IPO timing and finance governance - Circle's USDC issuance on Solana surged; Arc published a post-quantum cryptography roadmap I. Market snapshot 1) Markets back on the roller coaster Bitcoin failed to hold Monday afternoon's rally and was last at $68,819, down 1.62% over 24 hours. Oil rebounded to pre-weekend levels, with WTI crude at $113. U.S. equities closed higher: the Dow rose 0.36%, the S&P 500 gained 0.45%, and the Nasdaq added 0.5%. Strategy climbed 6%, while Tesla slipped 2%. With the U.S.-Iran situation likely to go through additional flare-ups, investors are bracing for further stress as military tensions risk intensifying. 2) Yi Lihua: ETH below $2,000 could be a long-term entry Yi Lihua wrote that the conflict appears to be nearing an end and expects a rebound after it concludes rather than a broader trend reversal. For long-term investors, he said accumulating ETH below $2,000 could set up participation into a bull-market peak. For short-term traders, he suggested taking profits based on technical levels. 3) Arthur Hayes: BTC could dip below $60,000 before a run to $250,000 Speaking on the Coin Stories podcast, Arthur Hayes said he would not put his last dollar into Bitcoin because the Federal Reserve has not yet been forced into liquidity expansion. He argued tariffs could add inflation pressure and may push the U.S. toward capital controls, which he sees as a key liquidity catalyst for Bitcoin. Hayes reiterated his cycle target of $250,000 to $750,000, while warning that if the U.S.-Iran conflict persists, Bitcoin could briefly fall below $60,000 in the near term. Separately, Charles Schwab confirmed it plans to launch direct spot trading for Bitcoin and Ethereum via new accounts in the first half of 2026. Mercado Bitcoin research found that in the 60 days following major global shocks, Bitcoin has consistently outperformed gold and the S&P 500. Bitcoin has since rebounded to around $67,300, while the Crypto Fear & Greed Index has stayed in "extreme fear" for several consecutive weeks. II. War developments 4) What Trump said at the White House: Iran's 10 points "not sufficient," tolls in Hormuz floated At dawn Beijing time on April 7, U.S. President Donald Trump held a White House press conference, laying out consequences Iran would face if no agreement is reached by his deadline. He said: "We must reach an agreement that I can accept, and part of that agreement will include ensuring the free flow of oil and all supplies." Trump said the U.S. military could destroy Iranian bridges and power plants within four hours. While attacks on civilian infrastructure are prohibited under the Geneva Conventions, he said he was "completely not" concerned about committing war crimes. He added: "The entire country can be wiped out in one night, and that night could be tomorrow night." Trump also proposed the U.S. collect fees from ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz. 5) Iran counters U.S. 15-point ceasefire plan with a 10-point proposal Iran responded overnight into the morning of April 7 with a "10-point proposal" to the U.S. "15-point ceasefire plan," underscoring clear gaps in early negotiations. Trump continued a dual track of talks and pressure, coordinating with Israel to maintain strikes and reiterating threats to "destroy Iran's bridges and power plants" and to "take over Iran in a single day." 6) Iran says "Real Promise 4" Wave 90 targeted U.S.-related metals facilities According to CCTV, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it carried out the 90th wave of operations under "Real Promise 4." The targets were steel and aluminum facilities in the region described as associated with the United States. III. AI watch 7) Report: OpenAI CFO questioned a 2026 IPO timeline; said to be sidelined from key finance meetings Market sources say OpenAI CEO Sam Altman privately expressed hopes this year of completing an IPO as early as Q4, while CFO Sarah Friar told colleagues she does not believe the company will be ready by 2026. She cited heavy procedural and organizational requirements and financial risk tied to large compute purchasing commitments. Sources also said Altman repeatedly excluded Friar from financial decision-making. In recent months, she was not invited to discussions with a top investor about server purchases; one attendee described the absence as "noticeable and awkward," especially given her prior involvement. Since last August, Friar no longer reports directly to Altman and instead reports to Fidji Simo, head of the applications business, breaking from the typical large-company structure where a CFO reports to the CEO. Financial details cited in the report include OpenAI committing to more than $600 billion in cloud infrastructure spend over the next five years, with internal projections suggesting over $200 billion in cash burn before reaching positive cash flow. This week's announced $122 billion funding is described as being led primarily by Amazon and NVIDIA—also OpenAI's cloud and chip suppliers—creating a circular capital arrangement. The report adds that Anthropic has overtaken OpenAI as the preferred model for enterprises and developers, while OpenAI's revenue growth is slowing. IPO groundwork is said to be underway: OpenAI has engaged Cooley and Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz and held preliminary talks with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley IPO teams. Altman is also said to want to list ahead of Anthropic, which is discussing an IPO plan for Q4 this year. Both executives later issued a joint statement: "We are fully aligned on our compute strategy." IV. Industry frontiers 8) Yi Lihua announces strategic investment in imBack after recovering lost BTC Jack Yi, founder of Liquid Capital, said on social media that crypto recovery service imBack helped unlock an iPhone sealed for 18 years and recover BTC he had believed permanently lost. He said he had previously given up on the wallet, but imBack's capabilities exceeded expectations, prompting a rapid investment decision. imBack reportedly provides recovery services for early users holding assets such as BTC and ETH who cannot access wallets due to locked devices or lost private keys. 9) Circle minted about 32.5 billion USDC on Solana over the past 7 days Data cited by ChainThink shows Circle minted approximately 32.5 billion USDC on Solana over the last seven days, marking the largest weekly stablecoin minting volume since 2026. 10) Circle's Arc chain publishes a post-quantum cryptography roadmap Circle's enterprise-grade blockchain Arc outlined a phased post-quantum cryptography (PQ) roadmap, aiming to introduce a post-quantum signature scheme at mainnet launch and extend protections across the stack, from wallets to validators. At launch, Arc mainnet plans to support PQ signatures via an opt-in mechanism, avoiding mandatory migration or a network-wide reset and enabling users to create wallets designed for long-term security. Near-term work focuses on quantum resistance for the private VM layer to protect private balances, private transactions, and private recipients; in privacy mode, public keys would be wrapped with an additional symmetric encryption layer. Medium-term plans target infrastructure upgrades aligned with standards such as TLS 1.3, spanning access control, cloud environments, and hardware security modules (HSMs). Longer-term, Arc aims to strengthen validator signatures. With block finalization under one second, Arc says current assessments view quantum risk here as relatively limited, with upgrades to proceed as post-quantum consensus tooling matures. Circle also warned of "collect now, decrypt later" attacks and urged institutions to plan cryptographic migration paths as early as possible.