Houthi rebels attacked two Saudi oil tankers, the Encelia and the Layla, in the Red Sea on July 22, marking the first direct strike on Saudi oil infrastructure since the 2019 drone assaults. Brent crude surged more than 7%, breaking above $100 per barrel for the first time since 2019, with Goldman Sachs forecasting prices could exceed $120 if supply disruptions persist. The attacks followed the collapse of a four-year truce between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia, with the Bab el-Mandeb Strait handling roughly 4.5 million barrels of oil daily. Bitcoin held steady between $63,000 and $65,000 following the strikes, while the US Treasury sanctioned Houthi-linked cryptocurrency wallets in 2025 that had received approximately $900 million in USDT, raising questions about stablecoins’ role in financing sanctioned entities.
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