On Friday, Bitcoin continued to do what it has done throughout its short history: the unexpected.
Despite taking a hit at the start of the US-Iran war two weeks ago, and experts warning that it could plunge as part of a broader risk asset selloff, the leading cryptocurrency is now trading above $72,000 after flirting with $74,000 earlier in the morning Eastern Time — for the first time since the beginning of February.
Over the past day, the coin has risen 2%. Over the past month, it has shot up by more than 8%, according to CoinGecko data.
“Investors may be seeing Bitcoin and crypto as a whole as oversold compared to other assets, and as such are increasing exposures,” Carlos Guzman of GSR Research told DL News.
Bitcoin’s rise comes as US President Donald Trump said that the worst strikes on Iran are yet to come.
“We have unparalleled firepower, unlimited ammunition, and plenty of time,” the president wrote late at night on Thursday on his Truth Social platform. “Watch what happens to these deranged scumbags today.”
Risk asset or not?
Bitcoin — despite being described as a safe-haven in the past and trading in correlation with gold in short time frames — has been more correlated with risk assets like tech stocks as of late.
After a brutal selloff in October, when the leading cryptocurrency shed most of its year-to-date gains after more than $19 billion in bets were liquidated, the coin entered a bear market.
But the bottom may be in, according to Guzman, regardless of war.
“I believe the shift in sentiment is being driven in part by the resilience crypto prices have shown in recent weeks amid rising conflict and uncertainty, which I think is generating the perception that the market has bottomed,” he said.
Experts last month told DL News that an attack on Iran would most certainly lead to a dip in crypto prices, as war has previously led to digital asset selloffs.
But market observers were also torn about how long the selloff would last.
DeFi researcher Ignas wrote on X Friday that the asset was now being bought as part of a “redemption trade,” adding that geopolitical headwinds would actually help the asset.
Diana Pires, Chief Business Officer at sFOX, added that Bitcoin’s rise reflected “a rare decoupling from traditional risk assets.”
And in an email exchange with DL News on Friday, a research analyst at forex broker Pepperstone, Dilin Wu, said the asset’s “uptrend could be restarting” as institutions remain interested in buying it.
But she did add that “a spike in oil prices could weigh on risk sentiment and pressure Bitcoin, while boosting gold.”
Other assets
Bitcoin wasn’t the only cryptocurrency to experience a price bump on Friday: Ethereum rose by more.
The second biggest coin was recently trading more than 5% higher over a 24-hour period, hitting $2,137 at midday in New York.
It came after the world’s biggest asset manager, BlackRock, debuted a new Ethereum exchange-traded fund, giving investors staking exposure.
Elsewhere, out of larger cryptocurrencies, Solana and XRP were also trading higher, by 3% and 2%, respectively.
