Huang Renxun has left Beijing, and NVIDIA has not disclosed whether Huang Renxun met with the DeepSeek founder.

On April 8th, Iran announced it would require shipping companies to pay **Bitcoin-denominated transit fees** for oil tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz during a two-week ceasefire. The rate is $1 per barrel of oil, while empty tankers sail for free. Payments must be completed within seconds after Iran confirms assessment and sends an email—this is intended to avoid the funds being traced or confiscated amid international sanctions. A senior source at the **International Energy Agency (IEA)** noted that if Hormuz traffic returns to normal during the ceasefire, roughly 20 million barrels of crude oil and petroleum products would pass through daily. This would translate to $20 million in Bitcoin for Iran each day, totaling an estimated $280 million (or ~4,000 Bitcoin at current prices) over the two-week period. BlockBeats clarifies this is a **theoretical calculation** based on typical weekday traffic. Actual figures may vary due to empty tanker exemptions, enforcement

April 8th — Iran’s Fars News Agency reports an oil tanker transiting the Strait of Hormuz was intercepted following an “Israeli violation of the ceasefire agreement.” PolyBeats (per monitoring from its Telegram bot: https://t.me/PolyBeats_Bot) shows the probability of the Suez Canal reopening this month fell from 39% to 32% in under an hour on prediction market Polymarket.

On April 8, Bitcoin fell below $71k—per HTX market data, its 24-hour percentage change narrowed to 4.3%.

On April 8, the New York Post reported that former President Donald Trump said his son-in-law Jared Kushner and envoy Jason Greenblatt would travel to Islamabad for negotiations, and Vice President Mike Pence may also join. Peace talks are set to begin soon in Pakistan. Earlier reports suggest the U.S. delegation for Iran talks is expected to arrive in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Thursday.

Two Pakistani sources said on April 8 that a U.S. delegation led by Vice President Mike Pence and an Iranian delegation led by Parliament Speaker Kalibaf and Foreign Minister Alaraghi will arrive in Islamabad, Pakistan on Thursday—one day earlier than previously expected. Earlier, Pakistan’s prime minister had stated the U.S. and Iranian delegations were scheduled to arrive in Pakistan on Friday, April 10. The two sides will hold further negotiations in Islamabad on the 10th to reach a final agreement resolving all disputes.

April 8 – Sources cited by Iran’s Tasnim News Agency say Iran will withdraw from the ceasefire agreement if Israel continues attacking Lebanon. Separately, Iran’s Fars News Agency reports Iran is mobilizing forces and preparing a “deterrent operation” against Israeli military positions over Israel’s violation of the temporary Lebanon ceasefire agreement.