律动BlockBeats

400 million barrels. This is the largest strategic oil reserve release in a single instance by the 32 member countries since the International Energy Agency (IEA) was established 50 years ago. On March 11, when the IEA announced this decision, Brent crude closed at $90.42 that day. Today, 12 days later, oil prices are above $107.

The story begins on February 28. After the United States and Israel launched a joint strike against Iran, Iran threatened to attack tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz, which is almost paralyzed, the most important oil transportation choke point in the world. According to IEA data, the actual traffic in the strait is currently less than 10% of pre-war levels. Brent crude oil skyrocketed from about $65 before the war to $119.5 intraday on March 9, an increase of nearly 80% in two weeks.

BlockBeats 消息，3 月 23 日，据半岛电视台阿拉伯语频道驻德黑兰记者报道称，伊朗首都爆炸的规模与烈度「史无前例」，尤其集中在城市东部。

Original title: (Gold Plummets in a Week! '1983 Mass Sell-off' Reappears, Middle East 'Sells Gold to Raise Funds'?)

Original author: Dong Jing, Wall Street Journal

Gold faced the most severe weekly drop in 43 years this week, and the echoes of history send chills through the market.

This week, gold fell by the largest weekly drop since March 1983, with spot gold prices declining for eight consecutive trading days, marking the longest losing streak since October 2023. Meanwhile, silver dropped more than 15% this week, with palladium and platinum also falling in tandem.

The trigger for this round of plummet is the ongoing escalation of the Middle East conflict, pushing up energy prices and thereby suppressing interest rate cut expectations. Market bets on the Federal Reserve raising interest rates have risen to 50%, intensifying this wave of precious metal sell-offs.

BlockBeats news, on March 23, according to Hyperinsight monitoring, international oil prices continue to rise. WTIOIL (WTI crude oil) on Hyperliquid reached a high of 101 dollars this morning before significantly falling back, currently reported at 98.6 dollars.

As oil prices fluctuate at high levels, two major whales (0xc437, 0x5b67) chose to take advantage of the situation today by opening new long positions, with a total position scale of approximately 2.8 million dollars, with average opening prices of 97 dollars and 99 dollars respectively.

In addition, the largest on-chain WTI crude oil position is held by 'U.S. and Brent crude's main short positions' (0x985), currently holding a 20x leveraged CL short position, with losses expanding to 2 million dollars, and the position scale is approximately 24.7 million dollars, with an average price of 90.42 dollars.

BlockBeats news, March 23, affected by the intensifying geopolitical conflicts in the Middle East, investors' risk appetite has significantly cooled, and concerns over global inflation and economic growth continue to rise, putting downward pressure on copper prices. London copper fell 1.8% on Monday, having previously recorded its largest weekly drop since April 2025 (6.7%) the week prior, with current prices hitting a three-month low. Analysts believe that the ongoing war in Iran for four weeks has driven up oil and gas prices, which may further drag down global economic activity and exacerbate inflationary pressures, potentially prompting central banks in various countries to maintain a more aggressive stance on interest rate policies.

BlockBeats news, on March 23, according to on-chain analyst Ai Yi (@ai_9684xtpa) monitoring, the address 0x78c...dBE18 accumulated 1.27 million SIREN at $0.07827 each, exiting when each SIREN was $1.64, making a profit of over $2 million, and this address has had financial transactions with DWF LABS.

BlockBeats news, on March 23, according to lookonchain monitoring, the whale address 0x2607 withdrew 11,950 ETH (approximately 51.32 million USD) from Binance 7 months ago at a near peak price of 4,295 USD, and the current value of this position has dropped to about 24.55 million USD, resulting in a paper loss of 26.77 million USD (approximately -52%).

Today, this address has transferred the 11,950 ETH to a new wallet, but no selling operation has been conducted yet.

BlockBeats news, on March 23, according to Coinbob's popular address monitoring, in the past 4 hours, the address 'pension-usdt.eth' (0x0ddf…) has turned its BTC short position from loss to profit, and then continued to reduce its position to take profit, with the holding scale compressed from 67.5 million USD to 33.9 million USD, and the remaining position still has a floating profit of about 500,000 USD.

The margin released from profit-taking has been fully transferred to the currently floating loss ETH short position, continuously averaging down the cost. The scale of the ETH short position has been significantly increased from 20.3 million USD to 61.4 million USD, with an average price of 2034 USD, and the current floating loss is about 440,000 USD. Following this adjustment, this address is now the largest short position holder for BTC and ETH on Hyperliquid.

BlockBeats news, on March 23, according to market news, the Israeli military stated that it has begun large-scale airstrikes against the Iranian capital Tehran, targeting key Iranian infrastructure.

This operation marks a further escalation of the conflict. In the past few weeks, Israel and the United States have repeatedly targeted sites within Iran (including energy and military facilities), and Tehran has also continuously suffered airstrikes and conducted missile retaliations.

Analysts believe that if the scope of the strikes expands from military facilities to infrastructure, it means that the war is entering a higher intensity phase, which could have far-reaching impacts on regional energy supply and global markets.

BlockBeats news, on March 23, gold spot prices once reached $4320.30 per ounce — just less than a dollar higher than the price at the end of last year, nearly wiping out this year's entire gain.

Meanwhile, the war in the Middle East has lasted for four weeks, and the United States and Iran have threatened each other with new attacks. Since the outbreak of the conflict, rising oil prices have increased inflation risks and reduced the likelihood of the Federal Reserve and other central banks cutting interest rates in the short term.

This is an unfavorable factor for gold, which has fallen for eight consecutive trading days and has just recorded its largest weekly drop since 1983.

BlockBeats news, on March 23, Goldman Sachs' commodity research team predicts that high oil prices are expected to last for a long time. Goldman Sachs currently expects oil flow through the Strait of Hormuz to remain at a low level of 5% of normal for as long as six weeks, before gradually returning to normal levels.

In addition, given the emphasis on the risks brought by the concentration of high output and idle capacity, a structural increase in strategic reserves is expected, and long-term prices are likely to rise accordingly. Goldman Sachs currently expects the average Brent crude oil price to be $85 per barrel in 2026, higher than the previous forecast of $77 per barrel. (Jin Shi)

BlockBeats news, on March 23, according to HyperInsight monitoring, the 'Strategy opponent' address (0x94d3…) established a new BTC short position, opening 44.19 BTC short orders, worth approximately 3,002,000 USD, with an opening average price of 67,876 USD, resulting in a slight floating loss of 3,900 USD.

This address previously established large-scale short positions on mainstream coins during MicroStrategy's (MSTR) continuous large purchases of BTC last December, and at one point became the largest BTC short on Hyperliquid with a position size of 120 million USD.

BlockBeats news, March 23, the situation in the Middle East continues to escalate. U.S. President Trump issued a 48-hour ultimatum to Iran, demanding it to 'unconditionally open' the Strait of Hormuz, or face strikes on critical infrastructure, including power plants. Iran responded firmly, stating that if attacked, it would 'completely block' this global energy artery and expand its counterattacks to energy, information technology, and desalination facilities. The current conflict has entered its fourth week, with approximately one-fifth of the world's oil and gas transportation disrupted, significantly increasing energy supply risks.

The ultimatum expires tomorrow night. The Iranian Foreign Minister said on X this morning that the Strait is "not closed," while the Iranian military stated that attacking power plants would lead to a "complete closure." 400 million barrels of strategic reserves are being poured into the market, yet oil prices remain unmoved.

1｜Countdown to Hormuz: Iranian Foreign Minister says "not closed," military says "if you dare, it will be completely closed."

Iranian Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian posted on X on Sunday, stating, "The Strait of Hormuz is not closed. The hesitation of ships is due to insurance companies fearing the war you initiated, not because of Iran. Freedom of navigation cannot be separated from freedom of trade. Respect both, or neither can be expected." On the same day, Iran's representative to the International Maritime Organization, Mousavi, stated that "with coordinated security arrangements, ships can pass."

BlockBeats news, on March 23, according to HyperInsight monitoring, the 25x leveraged ETH long position held by 'Brother Maji' Huang Licheng was once again completely liquidated. It is noteworthy that shortly after the liquidation, he opened a new 25x leveraged ETH long position, continuing his high-risk trading strategy.

Currently, the 'Maji' wallet balance is only about $32,000, while its cumulative losses have expanded to over $30.35 million.

BlockBeats news, on March 23, Monday morning, Japanese government bond prices fell, and yields again climbed to decades-high levels. Market concerns about escalating conflicts in the Middle East will push inflation rates higher. The yield on 10-year bonds rose by 6 basis points to 2.32%, close to the historic high set in January 1999. 5

The yield on government bonds rose by 5 basis points to 1.72%, just a step away from its highest level since it was listed. The fluctuation in Japanese government bond yields follows that of U.S. Treasury yields, which have been declining for several weeks and are currently at their highest level in months.

BlockBeats reports that on March 23, according to EmberCN monitoring, the control situation of SIREN tokens far exceeds previous expectations, with a suspected single dealer controlling about 88.5% of the circulating supply (approximately 644 million tokens, valued at around 1.44 billion USD).

Among the top 54 addresses by holdings, aside from the burn address and Binance Web3 wallet, the remaining 52 addresses are highly correlated, of which 48 are recent centralized accumulation addresses, and the remaining 4 addresses' chips can also be traced back to the same batch of positions established from late June to early July 2023.

Analysis indicates that the dealer has previously completed about 66.5% of the token's centralized accumulation. Combined with CEX holdings, the actual control ratio has further increased. In the context of high control, the market believes that it has obtained profits by controlling spot liquidity and conducting counterparty operations in the derivatives market, forming a 'self-directed performance' price mechanism. This may be the core reason for SIREN's approximately 30-fold surge in the past month and a half.

BlockBeats news, on March 23, according to lookonchain monitoring, Ethereum builder thomasg.eth is also engaging in 'selling low and buying high' ETH:

On March 3, he sold 12,131 ETH for $1,998 (approximately $24.24 million); in the past week, he bought back 10,209 ETH at an average price of $2,211 (approximately $22.58 million).

BlockBeats news, on March 23, due to the ongoing escalation of the Middle East conflict, the global financial markets experienced severe fluctuations on Monday. Asian stock markets collectively plummeted, with the Nikkei 225's decline expanding to 5%, the KOSPI of South Korea plunging by 6%, and the Taiwan Weighted Index opening down over 3%. FTSE China A50 futures also weakened.

Safe-haven assets showed mixed performance, with spot gold briefly falling below $4370 per ounce, marking a new low since early January, and spot silver dropping over 4%; meanwhile, energy prices strengthened, with oil prices continuing to rise. In terms of exchange rates, the Korean won fell to a new low against the US dollar since 2009, indicating a rapid flow of funds into safe-haven assets.

BlockBeats news, on March 23, according to Bitget market data, the South Korean KOSPI index fell sharply by 6.00%, currently reported at 5432.67 points.