On April 13, the price of Bitcoin experienced a significant drop of over 8.4%, triggered by heightened geopolitical tensions after Iran attacked Israel.
This event led to a sharp decrease in Bitcoin’s value, plummeting from approximately $67,000 to $61,625 and erasing over $130 million in market capitalization within moments of the news breaking.
This downturn wasn’t isolated to Bitcoin alone; other major cryptocurrencies also felt the impact.
Ether dropped by 9.81% to a price of $2,927, and Solana saw a substantial decline of 15.96%, bringing it down to $129.
According to data from CoinMarketCap, the global cryptocurrency market cap fell by 8.19% to $2.23 trillion.
The attack involved Iran deploying drones towards Israel as a response to a prior Israeli airstrike on a diplomatic facility in Damascus, Syria.
This earlier strike resulted in the deaths of seven Iranians, including two generals. The incident not only escalated the conflict but also involved Iran seizing a cargo ship owned by an Israeli billionaire.
The situation further intensified with U.S. President Joe Biden’s warning on April 12 about potential imminent attacks by Iran.
President Biden assured support for Israel, stating: “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel, we will help defend Israel, and Iran will not succeed.”
These remarks underscored the U.S. commitment to aiding Israel amidst the escalating tensions.
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The friction between Iran and Israel marks a significant escalation in regional conflicts, following the October 7, 2023, terrorist attacks by Hamas which sparked ongoing confrontations between Israel and Hamas. The U.S. has been actively attempting to mitigate further escalations.
U.S. officials have advised Israel against escalating the situation further. A government source relayed to CNN the frustrations within the U.S. administration over the lack of prior notice from Israel about its planned airstrike.
It was reported that Israel notified a U.S. official of the airstrike only when its aircraft were already en route to Syria.
“We were not aware that Israel was going to carry out this airstrike in advance,” the official stated. “Minutes before it happened and when Israeli planes were already in the air, Israel reached out to a U.S. official to say they were in the process of conducting a strike in Syria.
It did not include any details on who they were targeting or where it would be conducted, and the strike was already underway before word could be passed through the U.S. government.”
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