Crypto News: Bitcoin & Stablecoins Are Reportedly Being Used As Strait Of Hormuz Passage Fees

Key Insights:

• The latest crypto news showed that the Strait of Hormuz opened briefly, but ships were reportedly being forced to pay passage fees in Bitcoin and stablecoins.
• PayPal USD sees steady transaction growth amid disruptive market phase.
• Global stablecoin market cap tops out at $321 billion.

Crypto news headlines flashed green, and the market responded positively after Iran reportedly opened the Strait of Hormuz. However, more recent data suggests that it has once again been closed.

The Strait of Hormuz has been making crypto news headlines for quite some interesting reasons. Preliminary information revealed that the Iranians had reopened it. Bitcoin and most altcoins responded positively to this news.

Moreover, this reopening made crypto news because Iran was allegedly charging a $2 million passage fee to be paid in Bitcoin or stablecoins. The latest data suggests that they have shut down the Strait of Hormuz once again.

Crypto News: Strait of Hormuz Crypto Payment | Source: CryptosRus

The market has also responded now that the Strait of Hormuz has been closed. Bitcoin price retreated below $76,000 at the time of observation, and the entire crypto market was down by roughly

Crypto News: PayPal USD Sees Consistent Growth Even In The Chaos

While crypto news has been focused on geopolitics, some segments of the crypto market have been growing. One of the most notable ones was the stablecoin segment, and especially PayPal’s PYUSD stablecoin.

Crypto analysts have been pitting the PayPal USD stablecoin against Ripple’s RLUSD. Largely because the two are among the newer entries in the stablecoin segment but they have since grown and clocked more than $1 billion in marketcap.

According to recent data, the PayPal USD stablecoin has been outperforming RLUSD. For context, PYUSD had a market cap of less than $70 million at the start of October 2023. That figure has since ballooned to over $4 billion as of April 2026.

PayPal USD Market Cap and Holder Growth | Source: TokenTerminal

The aggressive market cap growth was not the only key metric highlighting the stablecoin’s growth trajectory. PayPal USD had less than 2,000 holders in October 2023.

The number of holders has since crossed 128,000. PYUSD’s asset transfer volume peaked at $11.8 billion at the end of March 2026.

As per the latest crypto news, it has since cooled to less than $5 billion as per the latest data.

Stablecoin Supply Clocks New Historic High

PayPal USD maintained an impressive uptrend even as the crypto market entered the bearish phase that has lasted for months since last year. However, it was not the only stablecoin that maintained an uptrend.

According to DeFiLlama, the total stablecoin market cap has been growing despite shaky and uncertain market conditions. For context, the global stablecoin market cap hovered at just over $234 billion exactly 12 months ago.

It has since added over $87 billion, with the total tally clocking $321.3 billion at the time of observation. This latest figure also marked a new all-time high for the stablecoin market.

Total Stablecoin Marketcap Celebrates New Milestone | Source: DeFiLlama

Some analysts have predicted that the total stablecoin market cap could soon cross the $1 trillion mark. While it is almost a third of the way there, it still has a significant way to go.

Nevertheless, the fact that it has maintained a healthy uptrend so far suggests that it could be on track to reach that goal within the next two or three years. As per the crypto news, this stablecoin’s growth signals the market’s readiness for mass adoption.

Robust stablecoin growth also signals the market’s readiness for a wave or tsunami of liquidity inflows once conditions align. A huge chunk of that liquidity could make its way into Bitcoin and altcoins once the bull market makes a proper comeback.

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