Bitcoin’s brief recovery stalled after renewed geopolitical tensions sent oil prices sharply higher again, weighing on risk assets across global markets.
The largest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, fell to around $69,393 on Thursday morning, down roughly 0.8% over the past 24 hours and about 4.3% over the past week. The decline followed attacks on two oil tankers in Iraqi waters that pushed Brent crude back above $100 per barrel.
The surge in crude reversed optimism that briefly lifted markets on Wednesday after the International Energy Agency proposed a record release of strategic reserves. Instead, the renewed spike in oil prices sent risk sentiment lower across Asian markets.
Bitcoin’s price action reflected the sudden shift. The cryptocurrency had climbed to roughly $71,230 late Wednesday before headlines about the tanker attacks triggered a rapid sell-off, pushing prices nearly $2,000 lower within a few hours.
It marked the third instance in the past two weeks where bitcoin rallied above $71,000 only to retreat following an escalation in tensions across the Middle East.
Oil markets reacted strongly to the latest developments. Brent crude surged as much as 10.5% during Thursday’s session, driven by the tanker attacks, the reopening of the Mina Al Fahal port in Oman, continued hostilities in the Persian Gulf and growing doubts that the IEA’s planned reserve release will be large enough to offset potential supply disruptions.
The broader market reaction was also negative. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 1.8%, with energy stocks the only sector posting gains. Losses deepened through the trading session, with little sign of stabilization.
Cryptocurrencies largely followed bitcoin lower. Ether slipped to around $2,025, down 0.5% on the day and 4.5% over the past week. Solana dropped 1.5% to about $85, extending its seven-day decline to 5.7%, the weakest performance among major tokens. XRP also fell 0.8% to roughly $1.37.
Meanwhile, Dogecoin declined 0.8% to $0.092, erasing most of the gains sparked earlier in the week by comments from Elon Musk. BNB traded largely unchanged around $642.
Market movements over the past two weeks have followed a similar pattern. Positive developments push bitcoin toward the $71,000–$74,000 range, while negative geopolitical headlines drag it back toward $66,000–$68,000. Overall, the net price change has remained limited, reflecting signals from on-chain data.
Demand indicators continue to show weakness. Data from CryptoQuant suggests apparent demand remains deeply negative at around -30,800 BTC over a 30-day period. The firm’s bull-bear indicator is still in bearish territory, while the amount of supply held at a loss continues to increase, indicating that many investors are selling into rallies.
Geopolitical uncertainty remains a major driver for markets. Donald Trump said earlier this week that the conflict could end “very soon” and that military objectives were largely complete. However, the timeline remains unclear as Iran continues striking targets across the region and disruptions persist around the Strait of Hormuz.
With the next policy meeting of the Federal Reserve scheduled for March 17–18, oil prices climbing back above $100 are strengthening concerns about stagflation and pushing expectations for potential interest-rate cuts further into the future.
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