Chapter One: 2026 Hormuz—The Pulse of Global Liquidity Is Slowing

In May 2026, global financial markets are experiencing a long-unseen "systemic tension."

This tension does not stem solely from a single interest rate meeting, a single inflation report, or a single geopolitical conflict, but from the global capital market’s first realization that the liquidity framework that has supported the global economy for decades is beginning to crack.

Last week, the U.S. April PPI data rose 6.0% year-over-year, significantly exceeding market expectations. Meanwhile, under Kevin Warsh’s leadership, the Federal Reserve maintained an extremely hawkish stance on high interest rates, causing the 30-year U.S. Treasury yield to briefly reach 5.1%, a two-decade high.

The market is beginning to re-enter a familiar yet dangerous environment:

High inflation, high interest rates, and heightened geopolitical tensions coexist.

But what truly unsettles global capital is not the yield curve itself, but the Strait of Hormuz.

Physical blockade: The first-ever "flow cutoff test" of global liquidity

In an environment of heightened geopolitical friction, the risk represented by the Strait of Hormuz as a “global liquidity chokepoint” is being repriced.

After this vital artery of global energy transportation briefly failed, about one-fifth of global crude oil supply was exposed to risk, causing international oil prices to surge above $103.

The market first truly realized:

After globalization entered an era of high friction, the most dangerous question is no longer "whether assets will rise," but "whether liquidity can still be sustained."

Technological Breakthrough: Iran’s “Bitcoin Toll Booth”

More symbolic than the oil price itself was the scene that followed.

Under extreme sanctions and financial blockades, Iran has begun requiring certain transit tankers to pay toll fees in Bitcoin.

This event, dubbed by the market as the “Bitcoin toll booth,” marked the first time digital assets truly entered the global energy settlement narrative.

It means:

When geopolitical conflicts begin to impact traditional financial channels, markets instinctively seek settlement tools outside the system.

Deterministic Migration: From Sovereign Credit to Technological Contracts

What truly matters about this event is not that "cryptocurrency was used," but that global capital for the first time redefined the meaning of "settlement finality."

Iran has not opted for traditional stablecoins.

Because stablecoins are still issued by centralized entities, they theoretically retain the ability to freeze, censor, or block transactions.

And the uniqueness of Bitcoin lies in:

It is the first global payment system in human history to eliminate counterparty risk.

No central issuer;

No correspondent bank;

There is also no single-point freezing capability.

Therefore, in an environment where physical blockades and financial sanctions coexist, it has for the first time been regarded by some market participants as a truly "non-sovereign liquidity instrument."

Chapter Two: The Closed Loop of Historical Logic—From "Dependent Survival" to "Autonomous Asset Management"

If we look back at the Suez Canal crisis seventy years ago, the 2026 shift in the Strait of Hormuz is not an isolated or accidental event, but a continuation of the historical transition of global settlement power from “dependence on sovereign credit” to “reliance on technical rules.”

In 1956, the Suez Canal crisis erupted.

At the time, Egyptian President Nasser announced the nationalization of the Suez Canal, directly challenging Britain and France’s traditional control over the global shipping system.

From a political standpoint, Nasser achieved symbolic sovereignty.

But what truly determines the outcome is not the canal itself, but the financial system.

Subsequently, the UK, France, and the US swiftly froze Egypt’s foreign exchange assets and severed its international financial clearing pathways. As a result, even though Egypt controlled the canal, it could not complete international trade settlements, reliably access external resources, or sustain normal global financial circulation.

• Cost and Return: At the time, there was no "digital hard currency"; Nasser’s only path forward was to return to the dollar system, trading away部分 geopolitical sovereignty in exchange for asset settlement rights.
• Insight: In the centralized financial system, "owning assets" does not equate to "owning asset sovereignty." What truly matters is whether you still retain the ability to settle. In the traditional international financial order, assets are essentially just a string of entries in a global ledger. Once the settlement pathway is severed, the assets themselves rapidly lose their liquidity value. And Hormuz in 2026 is, in essence, the digital continuation of this logic.

Seventy years later, as the global settlement system is once again weaponized, digital asset management offers global asset allocators a "third way" unimaginable in Nasser's era.

• The paradigm shift from SWIFT to blockchain: Traditional fintech (Fintech 1.0/2.0) was essentially an order reconfiguration empowered by IT, with control still held by SWIFT and the dollar system. The current state in 2026 demonstrates that the 24/7 open finance paradigm centered on Bitcoin has replaced unstable geopolitical contracts with technological agreements.
• A New Dimension in Asset Management: For institutions and high-net-worth individuals, the current paradigm is no longer about "buying assets," but about "managing liquidity." When traditional currencies like the British pound experience their largest monthly decline amid political turmoil, and countries like India restrict physical gold circulation due to foreign exchange pressures, digital asset management capabilities have become a borderless "immunity to asset risk."

Chapter Three: The Shift in the Anchor of Petrodollars and Asset-Liability Mismatch Under a 5.1% Interest Rate

In the global asset management landscape of 2026, what unsettles institutional investors most is not short-term volatility, but the foundational macroeconomic framework that has underpinned half a century of global finance—the petrodollar system—now undergoing a “perfect storm.” As the 30-year U.S. Treasury yield sits at a historic high of 5.1%, the “tightening consensus” led by Kevin Warsh is steering traditional asset allocation into uncharted deep waters.

Since the 1974 U.S.-Saudi agreement, the U.S. dollar’s status as the global reserve currency has been geopolitically underpinned by a de facto “petrodollar system”: the world buys oil in U.S. dollars, and oil-producing nations recycle their surpluses into U.S. Treasury bonds, creating a self-reinforcing network of credit.

However, entering 2026, this closed loop developed three structural cracks:

• Loss of secure collateral: The core of the 1974 system was U.S. provision of security in exchange for dollar pricing, but this “security premium” is eroding as access to the Strait of Hormuz increasingly depends on bilateral diplomacy rather than U.S. naval power.
• A Shift in the Energy Landscape: The U.S. shale revolution has enabled energy independence, reducing its role as a major buyer of Middle Eastern oil and creating a conflict between the "buyer protection" logic and the "energy competition" logic.
• Infrastructure derailment (Project mBridge): The mBridge system, jointly developed by multiple central banks, has reached its minimum viable stage. This blockchain-based cross-border payment system enables global fund transfers to completely bypass U.S. correspondent banking ledgers, achieving "asset movement" outside the dollar ecosystem.

Historically, oil price increases have typically triggered the "surplus recycling effect," whereby oil-producing countries, with increased revenues, reinvest in U.S. Treasury markets, thereby lowering long-term yields. However, under the extreme conditions of May 2026, this classic mechanism is breaking down:

• Reversal from buyer to seller: Due to conflicts damaging oil and gas infrastructure, Gulf economies are transitioning from surplus to deficit entities, forced to draw upon trillions in sovereign wealth funds and reserves for domestic reconstruction. This means the global U.S. Treasury market is losing its most stable marginal buyer—and may even face systematic selling by these giants.
• Strong suppression of inflationary effects: The 6.0% year-over-year growth in April's PPI indicates that energy costs have been deeply transmitted across all prices. Under this "supply-shock" inflation, the Fed is forced to maintain its high interest rate policy at 5.1%. At this time, elevated financing costs and expanding fiscal deficits create a negative feedback loop, making the traditional stock-bond hedge (60/40 strategy) extremely vulnerable under the dual pressure of high inflation and high interest rates.

As the 30-year U.S. Treasury yield hits its highest level since 2007, the market is undergoing a harsh "risk repricing":

• The illusory anchor of the risk-free rate: The U.S. Dollar Index has risen for five consecutive sessions, posting its largest two-month gain—not due to strengthened safe-haven demand, but because of forced demand stemming from global liquidity crunch. In this environment, holding cash or traditional fixed-income assets exposes investors to significant erosion from inflation and sharp currency volatility.
• The "blood clot" in asset allocation: Events such as India raising gold tariffs, the pound plunging, and the risk of strikes in South Korea are essentially physiological rejection responses by global capital in a high-interest-rate environment.

Conclusion:

In the asset management landscape of 2026, clinging to the outdated dream of the "petrodollar cycle" is like building a cathedral on sand. When a 5.1% interest rate no longer signifies "risk-free return" but rather "systemic stress," professional allocators must seek an asset vehicle with greater resilience and stronger technological contract attributes.

Chapter 4: The "Three-Way Flow" Logic of Deutsche Singularities—Reconstructing the Balance Sheet in an Era of High Friction

When the "carotid artery" of the global financial system (the Strait of Hormuz) faces physical blockade, and traditional monetary settlement protocols suffer severe friction and inefficiency amid 5.1% high interest rates and geopolitical tensions, asset managers and high-net-worth individuals no longer seek isolated assets—but rather a digital liquidity framework with self-healing capabilities.

How to maintain the flow of funds, assets, and returns in a high-friction global environment. This is the core context behind DeShang Qidian Technology’s “Three-Way Flow” framework. This logic is not merely a simple product combination, but rather a digital asset management system built around “liquidity security.”

In Kevin Warsh’s “5.1% Treasury yield era,” traditional safe-haven logic is becoming distorted. The artificial strength of the U.S. dollar masks the systemic vulnerabilities of non-U.S. currencies, such as the British pound and Indian rupee, driven by geopolitical and political crises.

After global fiat currencies entered a period of high volatility, the market began seeking new long-term liquidity anchors.

At this stage, BTC is no longer just a "risk asset."

It is more like a global, 24/7, digital liquidity tool that does not rely on the credit of any single sovereign.

For an increasing number of institutions, the underlying rationale for allocating to BTC is to build a hedge against global financial friction.

Meanwhile, tools such as offshore RMB stablecoins are also becoming important bridges in global digital liquidity.

Because future competition will not only be about assets, but also about settlement pathways.

Faced with rerouting of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and oil prices surpassing $100, traditional physical assets—such as commodities and industrial equipment—encounter significant time costs and administrative barriers in cross-border transactions.

The DeShang asset outflow solution leverages RWA (Real World Assets) tokenization technology to digitally separate high-quality domestic industrial assets:

• From physical assets to digital contracts: China does not lack high-quality assets (such as new energy photovoltaic projects and charging station initiatives); what it lacks is a compliant channel to access global capital when physical pathways are hindered. RWA is not merely a financing tool—it solves the “blood clot” of asset liquidity at the physical level by tokenizing the income rights of underlying assets.
• Competing against high-yield rates: Under a 5.1% U.S. Treasury yield benchmark, conventional assets struggle to capture global attention. Deutsche Bank identifies and selects underlying assets with stable cash flows through its industrial finance division, then structures contracts via its digital finance division to present competitive, real-time liquidatable yield characteristics on-chain.

Under the dual pressures of inflation and geopolitics, capital inflows and outflows are often subject to strict administrative intervention or capital controls.

The DeShang return repatriation solution leverages established securities financial instruments (such as TRS and OTC options) to achieve "strategic penetration" across return dimensions:

• Leverage and Flexibility of TRS (Total Return Swap): TRS fills the gap of insufficient investment flexibility. As an over-the-counter derivative, it enables institutions to gain economic exposure to cross-border assets—such as global commodities and crypto ETFs—without directly holding the underlying positions.
• Risk Hedging and Structured Gains: Through over-the-counter options and other instruments, Deutsche Bank helps high-net-worth clients design yield-enhancing structures such as "Snowball" and "Shark Fin" to convert market volatility into predictable cash flows during periods of sterling depreciation or U.S. stock market sell-offs.

The asset management strength of Desheng Qidian Technology lies in the deep integration of industry, digital, and securities dimensions:

1. The industrial finance division is responsible for precisely identifying underlying assets and isolating risks.
2. The Digital Finance division is responsible for transforming these assets into censorship-resistant, 24/7 liquid digital contracts.
3. The securities and finance segment leverages derivative channels to ensure that these values can be managed and hedged in compliance with regulations worldwide.

This collaboration is not only about enabling emergency settlement during the "Hormuz Black Hole" moment, but also about equipping strategic capital with a digital "immune system" in 2026—a system that transcends fiat cycles and does not rely on geopolitical credit, amid an era of high interest rates, high inflation, and high conflict.

Chapter Five: Conclusion—Rebuilding the “Sovereignty” Cathedral of Digital Asset Management Amid the Ruins of Order

In May 2026, the Strait of Hormuz is not merely a physically blocked shipping lane, but a massive "wound" in the world’s old financial order. From the surprise 6.0% U.S. PPI inflation in April, to the 5.1% peak in U.S. Treasury yields during Kevin Warsh’s era, to the pound’s sharp decline and multiple countries restricting gold flows, all signs point to one conclusion: the global clearing system, backed by a single sovereign credit, is reaching its “efficiency low point” amid increasingly complex and politicized博弈.

Looking back on the ups and downs of this week, we are not merely witnessing geopolitical conflict—we are actively experiencing a complete transformation of the asset management paradigm.

As the fragility of the ceasefire agreements in 1988 and 2026 reveals, any written contract is at risk of being revoked when national interests are placed above rules. During the 1956 Suez Crisis, Nasser was forced to accept this fragility because he had no alternatives outside the system.

But in 2026, digital asset management introduced a completely new “tech contract” for strategic capital. The notion of Bitcoin serving as “toll fuel” in the Strait of Hormuz powerfully demonstrates that, when human force or diplomatic tools fail to deliver redemption, the “counterparty-free” settlement channels provided by code and algorithms have become the final foundation for maintaining orderly trade.

We must acknowledge that a world committed to energy self-sufficiency and defense autonomy will inevitably hold fewer traditional U.S. dollar reserves. Under the dual pressures of historically high interest rates at 5.1% and the backlash against U.S. dollar hegemony, traditional "passive holding" strategies can no longer protect against extreme currency volatility and asset freezes.

The "three-way flow" framework promoted by Desheng Qidian Technology essentially provides global allocators with a set of "strategic exemptions":

• On the funding level: Decouple assets from single geopolitical risk through BTC and stablecoins.
• Asset level: Through RWA, physical assets can maintain 24/7 liquidity and appreciation on digital channels even when physical channels are blocked.
• Yield aspect: Leverage securities finance channels to lock in hedging benefits during a high-interest rate era.

In 2026, what will truly transform the global market is not a single interest rate hike, nor a single asset price fluctuation.

Instead, global capital has begun to reconsider for the first time:

What truly constitutes "security"?

For decades, people assumed the dollar system would remain stably operational, globalization would continuously deepen, and capital would always flow freely.

But today, an increasing number of realities are showing that:

The global financial system is transitioning from an era of low friction to an era of high friction.

In such an environment, the greatest risk to assets may no longer be price volatility.

but rather lose liquidity suddenly.

Therefore, the most important skill in the future may not be predicting the market.

Instead:

Ensure your assets remain liquid, continuously settle, and are consistently accepted by global capital, no matter the conditions.

From the Suez to the Strait of Hormuz, from petrodollars to digital settlement, from centralized ledgers to smart contracts, the global financial order is undergoing a slow but profound transformation.

The significance of digital asset management is gradually evolving from a "new financial concept" into a fundamental survival skill in an era of high friction.

Because the true hard currency of the future may not be any single asset.

Instead:

Who still holds the power to define liquidity.