Bitcoin fell below US$103,000 in early Asian trading on Friday, sliding as much as 3%, while Ethereum tumbled around 6.9%, according to Bloomberg data. Smaller-cap cryptocurrencies saw steeper losses.
Israeli Defence Minister Katz declared a special state of emergency, saying Israel had “preemptively launched an attack on Iran,” involving drones and missiles.
“The crypto market reacted negatively to the news of Israel’s attack on Iran, in line with other major risk assets. We expect Bitcoin to have technical support around US$101,000, but price movements in the short term will be dominated by geopolitical news,” said Caroline Mauron, co-founder of crypto derivatives liquidity provider Orbit Markets.
Asian equities fell alongside US stock index futures, as tensions in the Middle East escalated. Investors moved towards safe-haven assets such as US Treasuries and gold, while crude oil futures surged more than 9%.
