The price of Bitcoin jumped to a two-week high near $70,000 on Monday, pushing higher alongside riskier assets as the war launched by the U.S. and Israel on Iran entered its third day.
The leading digital asset by market cap recently changed hands around $68,938, a 4.4% increase over the past day, according to CoinGecko. Some platforms, including Coinbase and CoinMarketCap, showed Bitcoin briefly rising above the $70,000 mark late Monday morning before ticking back down.
Bitcoin had fallen as low as $63,100 early Saturday, following initial word of bombings in Iran, and then ticked up throughout the day amid initial reports of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s death.
On Monday, Ethereum had risen 3.2% over the past day to $2,032. Meanwhile, Solana and XRP had increased 3.5% to $87 and 1.3% to $1.39, respectively.
The Nasdaq Composite showed losses when U.S. markets opened on Monday, but it surged suddenly to recover losses. As of midday, the tech-heavy index had climbed 0.39%, while the S&P 500 was little changed, and the Dow Jones had shaved a few points.
The move marked a dramatic reversal from fears arising as the international conflict first broke, which President Donald Trump indicated from the White House was still in full swing.
“The United States military continues to carry out large-scale combat operations in Iran,” Trump said before recognizing U.S. personnel with the Medal of Honor. “We are destroying Iran’s missile capabilities, and you see that on an hourly basis.”
Stephen Coltman, head of macro at 21Shares, told Decrypt that markets are trying to determine whether Iran’s remaining leadership will move quickly to strike a deal with the Trump administration, or whether a prolonged period of instability is more likely in the region.
Regardless, Coltman said inflation expectations are rising in the U.S., and that has the potential to make scarce assets like Bitcoin more attractive compared to stalwarts like cash, even if an initial “flight to safety” drives investors towards the greenback.
“With the conflict boosting commodity prices and boosting government spending to finance the war, expected inflation has gone up but deposit interest rates have not changed,” he said. “If rates are 3% but expected inflation is 5%, then you will look for alternatives to cash because otherwise your money will be losing value over time in real purchasing power terms.”
When U.S. markets opened, Bitcoin’s strength coincided with weakness in precious metals, which have benefited from a risk-off attitude in recent weeks. Although gold was up 1.3% on the day at $5,300 per ounce, silver had crashed 7% to $88 per ounce, according to Yahoo Finance.
The strength of U.S. equities may seem surprising, but they’ve been underperforming compared to other markets this year, and it appears that investors are treating them as “as something of a safe haven,” according to IG analysts Chris Beauchamp and Axel Rudolph.
“Silver’s sharp reversal and a struggle for gold after initial gains should add to Bitcoin’s appeal on a relative basis,” they wrote in a note. ”Stocks seem able to live with the war in the Middle East so long as it doesn’t escalate.”
Editor’s note: This story was updated after publication with additional details.
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