Bitcoin and the broader financial markets, including gold and U.S. stocks, tumbled after U.S. President Donald Trump’s prime-time address on the war in the Middle East Wednesday.
Trump framed the operation as essential to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. He projected that core objectives are “nearing completion.” “We’re going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks. We are going to bring them back to the Stone Age where they belong,” Trump added.
He concluded by noting that the U.S. will soon be “safer, stronger, more prosperous, and greater than it has ever been before.”
, which hovered around $69,100 yesterday, dropped to lows of $66,250 Thursday morning before recovering to around $66,380, down 3.3% on the day according to CoinGecko data. Over $386 million in crypto positions were liquidated over the past 24 hours as a result of headline-driven volatility, per CoinGlass data.“Risk assets are falling because Trump's speech last night gave no indication that he planned to reopen the Strait of Hormuz,” Jeff Mei, COO of crypto exchange BTSE, told Decrypt.
The lack of confidence is largely due to the ongoing impact of the war. “Even if hostilities end, it could take months to secure the Strait and even longer to restore regional oil and gas production to previous levels,” Mei explained, noting that this delay could hinder economic growth in many countries and ultimately weigh down on crypto prices.
