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BTC Bounces Back Above $102K After Iranian Strikes on U.S. Bases in the Gulf
Crypto investors don't seem fazed by the attacks.
Updated Jun 23, 2025, 5:41 p.m. Published Jun 23, 2025, 5:39 p.m.
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What to know:
- Bitcoin briefly dropped to $99,500 but quickly rebounded by 2.9% to $102,400 following developments in the Middle East.
- Iran's missile strikes on American bases in the Gulf region, including Qatar, led to no casualties, but influenced market reactions.
- Traditional haven assets like gold saw minimal movement, while crude oil prices fell 4%.
Bitcoin is quickly responding to developments in the Middle East.
After briefly sinking to $99,500, bitcoin has bounced back 2.9% in the last hour and is now trading at $102,400. The digital asset is still up 2.5% in the last 24 hours, while the CoinDesk 20 (an index of the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, excluding stablecoins, memecoins and exchange coins) has risen 2.1% in the same period of time.
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Bitcoin's drop occurred as Iran retaliated against U.S. President Donald Trump's administration's weekend bombardment of three of its nuclear sites. The Middle Eastern nation carried out missile strikes against American bases in multiple Gulf countries, including Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. The attack on Qatar resulted in no casualties or injuries, according to a Qatari official.
Investors appeared to be unfazed by the military action. Gold, a traditional haven assets, barely inched higher at around $3,380, while crude oil prices plummeted 4% during the day.
"Crude getting crushed. Good sign," Sean Farrell, head of digital asset strategy at Fundstrat, noted in an X post.
"Generally when it comes to war and other external factors that disrupt things globally, there tends to be heavy short-term dips which later rebound depending on the severity as well as how things are communicated," said Nicolai Søndergaard, research analyst at blockchain analytics firm Nansen. "So far I'd say we are seeing the situation play out similarly here."
"Smart money still seems to be going a bit more risk off," he said, adding that exchanges saw some notable outflows, suggesting opportunistic investors bought the dip in prices.
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KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.
What to know:
- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
- This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
- Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
- Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
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Here's what bitcoin bulls are saying as price remains stuck during global rally
It's about a lot more than "zooming out." Supply overhangs and investor "muscle memory" regarding gold help explain bitcoin's poor absolute and relative performance.
需要了解的:
- Bitcoin has failed so far to act as an inflation hedge or safe-haven asset, lagging badly behind gold, which has surged amid high inflation, wars, and interest rate uncertainty.
- Crypto advocates argue that bitcoin’s weakness reflects a temporary supply overhang, investor “muscle memory” favoring familiar precious metals and its correlation with risk assets, rather than a collapse in long-term demand.
- Many bitcoin proponents still see BTC as a superior long-term store of value and “digital gold,” predicting that, once traditional hard assets are overbought, capital will rotate into bitcoin, allowing it to “catch up” to gold.
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