Bitcoin turned slightly higher on Tuesday, reversing an earlier decline as risk assets received a bid after Pakistan requested President Donald Trump to extend a deadline imposed by him on Iran to reopen the critical Strait of Hormuz.
Sentiment had earlier been under pressure amid little progress in talks between the U.S. and Iran and a threat by Trump to destroy the Iranian "civilization" by tonight if Tehran doesn’t make a deal.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency was last up 0.5% at $69,845.4 by 17:43 ET (21:43 GMT).
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Pakistan requests for deadline extension, two-week ceasefire Pakistan, which has emerged as a key mediator between the U.S. and Iran, said that "diplomatic efforts for peaceful settlement of the ongoing war in the Middle East are progressing steadily, strongly and powerfully with the potential to lead to substantive results in near future."
"To allow diplomacy to run its course, I earnestly request President Trump to extend the deadline for two weeks. Pakistan, in all sincerity, requests the Iranian brothers to open Strait of Hormuz for a corresponding period of two weeks as a goodwill gesture," the Asian nation’s prime minister Shehbaz Sharif said on X.
"We also urge all warring parties to observe a ceasefire everywhere for two weeks to allow diplomacy to achieve conclusive termination of war, in the interest of long-term peace and stability in the region," he added.
Reuters said Tehran was positively reviewing Pakistan’s request, citing an Iranian official. Separately, Axios reported that Trump was aware of Pakistan’s proposal, citing White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Trump’s Tuesday night deadline looms Trump earlier on Tuesday said "a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again," adding "I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will."
Trump had previously on Monday vowed to strike Iran’s bridges and power plants if Tehran did not make a deal, giving them till 20:00 ET Tuesday.
The president also stressed that any ceasefire agreement must include a guarantee from Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The vital waterway has been effectively shuttered since the start of the conflict, driving up oil prices across the globe.
Reuters reported that Iran said there were no negotiations with the U.S. which wants the country to "surrender under pressure," citing a senior Iranian source.
Later, Iran’s Tasnim reported that the country would target more oil facilities, including those of Saudi Aramco, if Trump carried out his threats to attack energy infrastructure.
"The market is not in panic, but it is not committed either, waiting for the deadline to pass before taking a clearer position," Iliya Kalchev, analyst at Nexo Dispatch, said.
Inflation data this week in focus The spike in energy prices due to the strait’s closure has heightened inflation concerns and driven investors toward traditional safe-haven assets such as the U.S. dollar.
Bitcoin has increasingly traded in line with broader risk sentiment, with geopolitical uncertainty overshadowing earlier optimism around diplomatic progress.
Focus is also turning to U.S. economic data, particularly the March consumer price index report due later on Friday. Higher energy prices linked to the Middle East conflict are expected to push inflation higher, potentially reinforcing expectations that interest rates will remain elevated for longer.
That outlook could pose an additional headwind for Bitcoin, which typically struggles in a higher-rate environment.
"With the energy shock still feeding through to prices, every inflation print this week carries asymmetric weight for crypto — a softer read reopens the rate-cut conversation; a hotter one hardens the higher-for-longer narrative further," Nexo’s Kalchev said.
Bitcoin ETFs see biggest daily inflows since February Elsewhere, Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) attracted their strongest daily inflows since late February on Monday, as investors moved to position themselves ahead of the Iran deadline.
The funds pulled in a combined $471.3 million, with BlackRock’s IBIT drawing the largest share at $181.9 million.
Fidelity’s FBTC and ARKB followed with $147.3 million and $118.8 million respectively, according to SoSoValue data.
No ETF recorded outflows on the day.
Crypto price today: altcoins largely follow Bitcoin higher Most altcoins also reversed course and followed Bitcoin higher on Tuesday.
World no.2 crypto Ethereum inched up 0.1% to $2,141.62.
World no. 3 crypto XRP was a smidge higher by 0.1% to $1.3366.
Solana added 1.7%, while Cardano climbed 0.4%.
Among meme tokens, Dogecoin advanced 1.6%.
