Bitcoin and broader crypto market sink as Israel launches airstrikes against Iran

Bitcoin and the rest of the crypto market tumbled on Friday morning after Israel launched a series of airstrikes against Iran, marking a major escalation in the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. 

Bitcoin is down 2% in the last 24 hours, according to Binance, falling from $107,000 to a low of $103,000 before rebounding slightly. The total market cap of the crypto market is down 3%, with Ethereum and Solana down 7% and Dogecoin down 6%. 

The threat of war between Israel and Iran has triggered investors to flee cryptocurrencies because they are volatile and considered risky assets in times of uncertainty. The conflict between the two countries has also raised concerns that Iran may retaliate by closing the Strait of Hormuz, which connects the Persian Gulf to the Arabian Sea and facilitates the shipment of 20% of global oil shipments, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. 

Nic Puckrin, founder of crypto education platform Coin Bureau, said that if that happens, the price of oil will surge and investors will flee risky assets, like crypto, to protect the value of their assets. “Oil will see a massive spike, and risk assets will fall off a cliff,” he says. 

Israel’s strike on Iran targeted the country’s nuclear sites, missile facilities and aerial defenses, and killed top Iranian officials and nuclear scientists. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the strikes are an attempt to eliminate Iran’s nuclear capabilities, and what he called an existential threat to Israel in a video statement on Friday. 

“This operation will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat,” he said.

Israel’s strikes came after the International Atomic Energy Agency, an organization within the United Nations that focuses on nuclear technology, said on Thursday that Iran was not complying with its nuclear nonproliferation obligations, according to the New York Times. 

President Donald Trump came out in support of the strikes on Friday, saying that the attacks will get “even more brutal,” if Iran does not agree to a deal regarding its nuclear weapons program, in a post on Truth Social. “Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left,” the president wrote. 

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has promised to retaliate against Israel, writing in a post on X that the nation “should anticipate a harsh punishment.” 

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com