From War to Wall Street: Why Bitcoin Is Moving Right Now

Nothing says the future of finance quite like pay the toll in Bitcoin or your tanker isn't getting through. I'm Lauren Wixom and you're watching the Boston Blockchain Beat.

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Iran has been demanding some transit tolls in Bitcoin for ships moving through the Strait of Hormuz as the region deals with war, sanctions pressure, and a fragile ceasefire. Now some of you might be like, well, why is this important? Why does this matter? Well, because the Strait of Hormuz is not some random waterway. One of the most important choke points in global energy markets and about 1/5 of global oil trade normally passes through it.

So when conflict hits that region, markets everywhere start acting weird. And when the US and Iran moved toward a ceasefire, markets reacted fast. President Trump announced a 2-week ceasefire tied to reopening the strait, which helped send oil sharply lower and triggered a broader relief rally across markets. And yes, Bitcoin joined the party. The Wall Street Journal reported Bitcoin jumped to just under 73K, its highest level in nearly 3 weeks after the ceasefire news boosted risk appetite.

But this is exactly why events like this matter right now. I grabbed co-founder of Cubic Labs and director of Boston Blockchain Week Ian Kane to break down what's actually happening with Boston Blockchain Week this year. Ian, what is up?

Lauren, nothing. Chilling, getting ready for the best Boston Blockchain Week yet.

Yeah, no. I'm so excited. The event's just been growing like crazy. So, Boston Blockchain Week 2026, what can we expect? Why should people be paying attention right now?

No, that's great. I mean, you I love what you just said because you've been with us from the start and this has been a growing hustle, real grassroots effort that's turned into a global affair. And this year expects more from building on the success we had last year. Like think year we had over 500 attendees, 100 speakers from all over the world. We had a keynote from Abigail Johnson, the CEO and chair of Fidelity.

That was a huge get and such great energy to have for our, you know, regional event that taps into the rest of the world. You know, this year the theme of the program is the digital infrastructure stack and I think we've moved on from thinking about blockchain as sort of this unique monolith because all these emerging technologies as we harped on last year are integrating amongst each other. So it's blockchain, it's AI, it's cybersecurity, it's now compute. We're talking about data centers all over the place and so we're thinking about, you know, what are these systems, how do they integrate, and how do they now play in the larger institutional context of what you're seeing roll out across the world in the global financial systems among other areas. One big component that we're adding this year, we're always trying to think of new ways to engage different parts of the community.

We want more capital providers and and you know, our core mission through Cubic Labs in bringing this ecosystem together is founders and so we want to be able to support founders who are actively raising rounds. So we created what's called Deal Room. So Deal Room will take place on Wednesday, September 9th. It'll be at an adjacent location to Boston Blockchain Week main stage and it'll be a one-on-one day-long event of one-on-one meetings between capital providers, venture capital, tier one institutional firms, and founders. So we're going to put out a call for applications for founders in July and we want them to apply if they're raising active rounds from uh seed to series B and then we're actively inviting venture capital funds to participate as well.

That's so awesome. I'm looking forward to that this year. It's such an awesome addition. Yeah, me too. I think it's going to bring a unique flair.

I think there's plenty of, you know, there's always plenty of opportunities for people to have, um, you know, meetups at the side events during networking and whatnot, but this is a a very pointed effort to bring those two people together so that capital can actually be placed. You know, and there's just another level of value add to this event that we put together. No, exactly. And I mean, it's so fitting also because Cubic Labs, so This is the core of what we do. Yeah, so if we're not if we're not finding new, bigger, better ways to be supportive of our founder community, then we're not doing our job.

Yeah, no, I'm so excited. Thank you, Ian, for coming on. If you're building, investing, or looking for opportunities, you need to be in the deal room. So, we will also leave a link for the application once that comes out. So, I'm not sure if that's going to be by the time this video's up or the next video, but we'll be sure to get that post out on social, so just stay tuned for that.

I will leave our socials also in the description box, so you can follow us and just stay in the know. Awesome. Thanks, Lauren. Thank you, Ian. So, yes, Bitcoin pumping above 72K while ceasefire headlines hit the tape is a pretty insane reminder that crypto is now glued to geopolitics, whether people like it or not.

And if that wasn't enough, Wall Street said, "You know what this moment needs? A new Bitcoin product." Wall Street spent years calling Bitcoin reckless, and now Morgan Stanley wants a management fee on it. Classic. Morgan Stanley Investment Management officially launched the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust, ticker [music] MSBT, on April 8th of this year.

According to Morgan Stanley's own press release, it is the first US bank-affiliated asset manager to offer a crypto ETP, and the fund sponsor fee is .14%, which the firm said was the lowest Bitcoin ETP sponsor fee at launch. MSBT had a strong day-one launch at $34 million on its first trading day, and described that debut as being in the top 1% of ETF launches over the past year. Bitcoin is no longer on the outside of begging institutions to notice it. Institutions are now building products around it and competing to make money from access to it.

This is a major shift. Thank you so much for watching today's episode of the Boston Blockchain Beat. If you're into blockchain, Bitcoin, crypto policy, market structure, and where all of this is actually headed, you already know where to be. We mentioned it earlier in the video. Boston Blockchain Week happening September 8th through the 10th in Kilroy Square in Quincy, Massachusetts.

Tickets are on sale for an early bird price, so get your tickets today before those prices go up. Again, thanks for watching. Be sure to like this video and subscribe, and we will see you all in the next episode.

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