Published Tue, Mar 3, 2026 · 08:36 PM
[NEW YORK] Bitcoin tumbled to erase a brief rally above US$70,000, dragged down along with other risk assets by concerns about a lengthy conflict in the Middle East.
The original cryptocurrency fell as much as 4.4 per cent to US$66,348 and was trading around US$66,800 at 5.50 am in New York. The retreat picked up pace up as European markets opened to a sharp selloff, with the Stoxx Europe 600 Index down more than 3 per cent as it headed for the biggest two-day drop since April.
Crypto markets across the board were in the red on Tuesday (Mar 3) as investors fled riskier assets, with tokens like Ether and Solana declining. The bearish sentiment contrasted with the previous day, when US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds saw inflows of US$458 million.
Investors continued to seek out haven assets after the US and Israel launched a bombing campaign against Iran over the weekend. Iran stepped up attacks on the US and its allies in the Middle East, threatening to close the Strait of Hormuz, a critical trade waterway.
“Bitcoin is once again serving as a hair-trigger indicator for traditional financial markets,” said Petr Kozyakov, chief executive of crypto payments platform Mercuryo.
Pratik Kala, head of research at Apollo Crypto, described the moves as a normal cooling-off period.
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“Bitcoin is cooling off after a strong rally yesterday, which occurred on high volumes,” Kala said. He noted that Bitcoin has been trading in a range of between US$65,000 and US$70,000 since early February, meaning any move above that band will invite profit-taking.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index tumbled as much as 2.8 per cent in the worst two-day slump since last April. South Korea’s Kospi Index, the world’s second-best-performing stock market this year, sank as much as 6.9 per cent – the most since August 2024.
Oil, meanwhile, is spiking in anticipation of the worst market disruption since 2022.
Bitcoin’s recent moves in response to geopolitical shocks have undercut the “digital gold” narrative that some crypto advocates have long promoted. Bullion staged a four-day rally before declining slightly on Tuesday. BLOOMBERG
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