Bitcoin (
BTC
) experienced a significant drop of over 8.4% on April 13 following an attack launched by Iran on Israel, leading to heightened geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.
Within minutes of the attack, the price of the cryptocurrency plummeted from approximately $67,000 to $61,625, resulting in a loss of over $130 million in market capitalization.
This sell-off has had a ripple effect on other cryptocurrencies as well. At the time of writing, Ether (
ETH
) had fallen by 9.81% to $2,927, while Solana (
SOL
) had sunk by 15.96% to $129. According to data from CoinMarketCap, the global market capitalization of cryptocurrencies declined by 8.19% to $2.23 trillion.
Iran’s launch of drones towards Israel on Saturday, as reported by Bloomberg, was a retaliatory measure for an attack conducted by Israel a few days earlier. The Israeli attack targeted a diplomatic compound in Damascus, Syria, resulting in the deaths of seven Iranians, including two generals.
In addition to the airstrikes, Iranian authorities have reportedly seized a cargo ship owned by an Israeli billionaire.
United States President Joe Biden issued a warning on April 12, stating that Iran would launch attacks “sooner than later” and emphasizing the US’s commitment to defending Israel: “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel, we will help defend Israel, and Iran will not succeed.”
The conflict between Iran and Israel has significantly escalated tensions in the region, something that the US has reportedly been trying to prevent since the Israel-Hamas conflict in October.
According to a government source who spoke to CNN, US officials have been urging Israel not to escalate tensions in their responses to Iran. The officials have also expressed frustration with the lack of prior information provided by Israel regarding its airstrike in Damascus. Sources revealed that Israel only informed a US official when its planes were already en route to Syria.
“We were not aware that Israel was going to carry out this airstrike in advance,” the official stated. “Minutes before it happened and when Israeli planes were already in the air, Israel reached out to a US official to say they were in the process of conducting a strike in Syria. It did not include any details on who they were targeting or where it would be conducted, and the strike was already underway before word could be passed through the US government.”