Following the recent strikes by the U.S. military in Iran, the cryptocurrency markets have taken a significant hit. Particularly affected are altcoins, setting the stage for potentially turbulent market fluctuations when international markets reopen on Monday. The aggressive actions by the U.S., which took place on Saturday night, were announced by President Donald Trump. He labeled the strikes on three Iranian nuclear development locations as “highly successful.”
President Trump hinted on his social media platform, Truth Social, that he might advocate for a change in regime in the country. Within 24 hours of the strike announcement, over $1 billion in crypto assets were liquidated, as per data compiled by Coinglass. The majority of these liquidations affected long positions. However, these figures from Coinglass, which are based on publicly accessible data, may fall short of the actual volume of market liquidations.
In reaction to the U.S. strikes, Iran’s parliament has urged the nation’s leaders to shut down the Strait of Hormuz – a critical juncture for global oil commerce. This has led traders to anticipate a surge in oil prices when markets reopen. The final decision to close the strait lies with Iran’s leadership. Despite previous threats, the strait has never been successfully closed off.
On Sunday, Bitcoin’s price dropped below $100,000 for the first time in 45 days, reflecting the overall decline in the cryptocurrency market. Despite a nine-day streak of inflows for U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs, the relatively weak inflows on Friday combined with BTC’s price drop may break this streak on Monday.
The GMCI30 index by The Block, which ranks the top 30 cryptocurrencies by market cap, has dropped almost 10% over the past week. This is despite being the best-performing index; smaller caps and AI tokens have been particularly affected by the selloff, dropping 17% and 20% respectively over the same period.
Disclaimer: The Block is a majority-owned by Foresight Ventures as of November 2023. Foresight Ventures invests in other firms in the crypto arena. Crypto exchange Bitget is a significant LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block maintains its independence to deliver objective and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.
