Bitcoin rose slightly on Monday, steadying after a whipsaw performance over the weekend as traders awaited more cues on the U.S.-Israel war on Iran after a potential escalation involving the Houthis.
The world’s largest crypto fell back below the $70,000 level last week as risk appetite remained frail, while uncertainty over a key regulatory measure in the U.S. also weighed.
Bitcoin rose 1.1% to $67,391.3 by 03:10 ET (07:10 GMT).
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Iran escalation in focus after Houthis attack Israel Markets were now watching for a potential escalation in the Iran war, especially after the Yemen-based, Iran-backed Houthi group launched missiles at Israel over the weekend.
The Houthi’s involvement could open a new front in the war, especially given their capacity to launch strikes in the Red Sea.
Separately, U.S. President Donald Trump said negotiations with Iran were going well, and that a ceasefire could be close, although he did not provide a clear timeline.
Trump also said that Iran had allowed 20 oil tankers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz as a concession to the United States.
Iran has so far largely denied any direct talks with the U.S. since the war began in late-February. Over the weekend, Tehran accused the U.S. of planning a ground invasion after Washington deployed thousands of troops to the Middle East.
While Bitcoin has fared relatively better than other assets since the onset of the Iran war, it has still struggled to make major headway, with its weekend losses also wiping out a bulk of its gains through March.
Uncertainty over the Iran war has been a key weight on investor appetite for risk-driven assets, as markets fretted over the inflationary effects of high oil prices. Any hawkish moves by global central banks to offset energy-fueled inflation bode poorly for speculative assets such as crypto.
Strategy potentially skips Bitcoin purchase for the first week since late-Dec Strategy Inc (NASDAQ:MSTR), the world’s largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, may not have added to its Bitcoin holdings last week, a report by Coindesk noted.
Executive Chair Michael Saylor usually signals upcoming purchases in an X post every Sunday, followed by an announcement on Monday. This time, however, Saylor made a post touting Strategy’s preferred equity offerings.
A potential pause in weekly purchases could end a 13-week streak of continued buying by Strategy since late-December, where it accumulated a total 90,831 Bitcoin, Coindesk reported.
Crypto price today: altcoins track Bitcoin higher, but sentiment frail Broader crypto prices advanced on Monday, although sentiment towards the sector remained largely frail amid continued risk aversion.
World no.2 crypto Ether rose 2% to $2,045.52, while XRP rose 1.5% to $1.3536.
Solana, Cardano, and BNB advanced between 0.4% and 1.3%.
Among meme tokens, Dogecoin added 1.8%, while $TRUMP rose 1.9%.
