Following Iran’s attack on Israel, the value of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies fell precipitously.
On April 13, the price of bitcoin fell by more than 8.4% as a result of Iran attacking Israel and intensifying geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. Within minutes of the attack, the market capitalization of cryptocurrencies was completely destroyed, with prices plummeting from almost $67,000 to $61,625.
Some cryptocurrencies are being impacted by the sell-off as well. As of this writing, Solana has dropped 15.96% to $129 and Ether had down 9.81% to $2,927. Data from CoinMarketCap indicates that the value of the global cryptocurrency market fell by 8.19% to $2.23 trillion.
Iran reportedly deployed drones at Israel on Saturday, according to Bloomberg. This action is a reprisal for an earlier attack carried out by Israel a few days prior. In an airstrike on a diplomatic facility in Damascus, Syria, Israel killed seven Iranians, two of them were generals.
In addition to the airstrikes, a millionaire Israeli has reportedly had his cargo ship detained by Iranian authorities. On April 12, US President Joe Biden issued a warning, saying that the US would support Israel’s defence and that Iran would strike “sooner rather than later”:
“Defending Israel is our first priority. We will stand behind Israel, assist in its defence, and ensure that Iran fails. Since October’s Israel-Hamas battle, the U.S. has apparently been attempting to avoid tensions in the region from rising, which is why the dispute between Iran and Israel has considerably escalated. A government source told CNN that Israeli officials have been advising against raising the ante in their reactions to Iran.
The leaders also voiced their dissatisfaction with Israel’s lack of advance notice of the airstrike in Damascus. According to sources, Israel didn’t tell a U.S. official until its planes were already headed towards Syria.
The official said, “We were not aware that Israel was going to carry out this airstrike in advance.” Israel contacted a U.S. official moments before the incident to inform them that they were planning an attack in Syria while their planes were still in the air. The strike had already started before word could reach the US administration, and it contained no information about who or where it would be carried out.