Data: Only 77 Ships Have Passed Through the Strait of Hormuz Since March 1

On March 14, the Australian government announced it will release roughly 6 days of gasoline and 5 days of diesel from its strategic fuel reserves—marking the first time it has drawn down the reserves since the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Australian Energy Minister Chris Bowen said the move aims to give fuel suppliers more flexibility amid the Middle East conflict. Currently, Australia still has roughly 36 days of gasoline, 29 days of aviation fuel, and 32 days of diesel stockpiled. This action is also part of the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) plan to collectively release 400 million barrels of oil from the strategic reserves of its 32 member nations, with the goal of stabilizing global oil prices and securing supply. Meanwhile, the Australian government has temporarily eased fuel quality standards, expecting to add roughly an extra 100 million liters of gasoline monthly over the next two months. Amid the Middle East situation and shipping disruptions in the Strait

March 14 — U.S. President Donald Trump said in a social media post on March 13 that Iran had been “completely defeated.” Late that day, Trump tweeted: “The ‘Fake News’ media refuses to report the success of U.S. military actions against Iran. Iran has been totally defeated and wants a deal — but I won’t accept it!” On March 13, Iran also continued to launch multiple attacks against U.S. and Israeli targets.

March 14: In response to the recent uptick in Ethereum address poisoning attacks, CZ said in a post that block explorers should directly filter out such spam transactions instead of displaying them to users. He noted these transactions are technically easy to filter, and the Trust Wallet app has already rolled out a similar feature. CZ also added that while filtering spam transactions could impact future micropayments between AI agents, AI technology can be used then to identify and filter out the spam. Previously, block explorer Etherscan warned that Ethereum address poisoning attacks are becoming more automated and widespread—attackers use fake, similar-looking addresses to trick users into sending funds to the wrong address.

**March 14th Brief** Robert Mitchnick, Head of Digital Assets at leading global asset manager BlackRock, said the firm won’t over-innovate crypto ETF structures or roll out “exotic” products—instead, it will stick to a relatively cautious expansion strategy going forward. Mitchnick noted current investor demand centers on mainstream assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum. While more complex structured crypto ETFs may emerge, BlackRock will maintain strict vetting for new product launches. BlackRock recently launched the iShares Staked Ethereum Trust, which generates yield by staking ETH. The fund recorded $15.5 million in trading volume and $43.5 million in inflows on its first day of trading. Additionally, the firm is exploring launching a Bitcoin yield ETF, which would offer investors income via covered calls on Bitcoin futures.

March 14 (Reuters) — World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency project co-founded by U.S. President Donald Trump, has launched its "Super Nodes" initiative. Investors who stake $5 million worth of WLFI tokens (roughly 50 million tokens) and lock them for 180 days will gain priority access to discuss partnership opportunities with the company’s business development team and executives. The proposal was approved via a community vote, with the project team citing 99% approval. Participants must stake tokens to obtain governance voting rights and earn a 2% WLFI token reward after casting at least two votes. According to the report, 75% of revenue from new WLFI token sales will go to the Trump family. The White House counsel stated that Trump himself was not involved in the business transactions and there is no conflict with his presidential duties.

March 14 — Microsoft announced its AI assistant, Copilot, will officially launch on current-gen Xbox Series X and other Xbox consoles later this year. Earlier, Copilot was integrated into platforms including Windows 11, the Xbox mobile app, and Xbox Ally. Microsoft aims to boost gamers’ experience across gaming, system management, and content discovery by bringing the AI assistant to the console ecosystem.