Bitcoin Price Returns to $70K Despite Growing Tension in the Middle East: Your Weekly Crypto Recap

This week saw a big investment in OKX, Kraken received a Fed Master Account, while Justin Sun reached a $10 million settlement with the SEC.

This time last Friday, the tension was building in the Middle Eastern region, but only a handful of people could have predicted how the world would change just hours later. On Saturday morning, Israel and the USA joined forces to launch a military operation against Iran, which began with air strikes.

Iran retaliated and continues to do so as the week progressed, even though its Supreme Leader was killed during the first day of the attacks. Since then, the developments on the matter have quickly escalated, with almost a dozen countries already being directly involved, while essentially every nation has felt the consequences in one form or another, especially after the Strait of Hormuz was closed and energy prices skyrocketed.

Amid all of this massive geopolitical tension, which began on an off-day for every other financial market aside from crypto, bitcoin’s price has remained stable overall. Well, that’s after the initial Saturday shock when it tumbled by $4,000 to $63,000. It quickly rebounded, recovered all losses, and even headed to new local peaks during the business week.

Although there’s no evidence that this war could end soon, BTC surged by $11,000 from its Saturday low to $74,000 on Wednesday. However, it faced an immediate rejection there and now trades around $70,000. This is still roughly 5.5% higher than its price level last week, which is rather surprising given the surging uncertainty.

Only a few larger-cap alts have performed better during this timeframe, including HYPE, NEAR, SKY, and MNT. In contrast, ADA, CC, BCH, SHIB, WLFI, and DOT are deep in the red.

Market Data

Market Cap: $2.46T | 24H Vol: $108B | BTC Dominance: 56.9%

BTC: $70,000 (+5.6%) | ETH: $2,050(+4.4%) | XRP: $1.38 (+1.4%)

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This Week’s Crypto Headlines You Can’t Miss

Kraken Just Became the First Crypto Company With a Fed Master Account — Why It Matters. The veteran US exchange has secured access to a limited-purpose master account from the US Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas. Kraken Financial can now directly connect to the Fed’s core payment systems and bypass some of the intermediaries that exist when users are trying to deposit/withdraw.

Kazakhstan May Sell Gold to Fund $350M Crypto Purchase: Report. The governor of the country’s central bank said they plan to invest up to $350 million in cryptocurrencies or high-tech firms related to the industry. They want to use some of their current investments, such as gold and foreign exchange reserves, to do so.

NYSE Parent Company Invests in OKX at $25 Billion Valuation. Intercontinental Exchange, the behemoth behind the New York Stock Exchange, acquired a minority stake in the popular cryptocurrency trading platform, OKX. This puts the latter’s valuation at an impressive $25 billion after the latest investment round.

Ray Dalio Dismisses Bitcoin’s Safe-Haven Narrative, Rejects Comparisons to Gold. Despite BTC’s better performance since the tension in the Middle East skyrocketed, billionaire Ray Dalio dismissed its potential to serve as a safe-haven narrative and praised gold once again.

$1 Billion Floods Back Into Crypto Funds, Snapping Five-Week $4B Bleed. The previous business week snapped a five-week red streak in which investors pulled out around $4 billion from crypto-related funds. Instead, they poured around $1 billion in the span of five business days.

Justin Sun ‘Very Pleased’ With $10 Million SEC Settlement. Nearly three years after he and some of his companies were sued by the US SEC, Justin Sun announced that the claims were dismissed after he reached a $20 million settlement with the regulator.