Bitcoin dropped to $62,000 on April 14 after reports that Iran had launched missile and drone attacks on Israel.
The rest of the cryptocurrency market also witnessed turbulence amid increased selling activity. Risk assets tend to plunge with news of geopolitical tensions and the recent fall was expected as traders rushed to dump their assets.
Before the missile and drone attacks, BTC was trading at around $72,000 but lost over $6,000 in minutes. However, the coin is currently showing signs of rebounding to trade at $66,400 on April 15 at 03:05 EST.
Crypto Market Wipes Gains Amid Israel-Iran Conflict
Bitcoin was among the worst-hit cryptos during the Saturday-Sunday sell-off, with Bloomberg ranking it as the steepest decline in over a year. Ethereum, the largest altcoin, also briefly dropped below $3,000 before rebounding to above $3,200.
Before this attack, the cryptocurrency market had been performing quite well. Bitcoin recently rallied to an all-time high above $73,000 after the US listed spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
The geopolitical situation in the Middle East has been presenting a challenge for financial markets. The occurrences on Saturday marked the first time that a direct attack was conducted on Iranian territory towards Israel.
Israel reported that at least 300 missiles were launched by Iran, but it managed to neutralize 99% of them. Iran attributed the missile attack to the Israeli strike in Syria that killed top Iranian officials.
Besides the cryptocurrency market, the foreign exchange market has also been affected by these developments. The Iranian currency dropped to a record low against the US dollar, before recovering shortly after.
The Iranian currency, the rial, has been facing pressure from the skyrocketing inflation levels. The US government, under the former administration of Donald Trump, imposed sanctions against Iran, which have affected some of the key exports by Tehran including crude and oil products.
Israel has vowed to retaliate for the missile attacks, despite the US government saying it will not support it in any offensive attacks against Iran. However, the timeline of this retaliation and whether it will happen remains to be seen.
Nevertheless, the situation between Iran and Israel continues to escalate tensions in the region. While the two countries have long been at a standoff, the recent situation risks the tensions worsening and the matter becoming worse.
Crypto Market Recovers Amid Hong Kong News
In other news, Hong Kong is aiding the recovery of the cryptocurrency market from the weekend dip. The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (HKSFC) just approved spot Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs), with their launch set to bring Chinese asset managers into the cryptocurrency market.
The approved ETFs are offered by China Asset Management, a leading asset manager in China, which will offer spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs. Harvest Global Investments has also received approval for two spot crypto ETFs. Bosera Asset Management and HashKey Capital will also get to list their crypto ETFs.
