Bitcoin’s Turbulent Ride: How BTC’s Price Has Fared With Escalating Mid-East Conflicts

The past few days have seen shocking developments on the geopolitical front, with the United States and Israel launching coordinated strikes against Iran. The operation took place on Saturday, February 28, 2026, and because cryptocurrency markets trade around the clock, Bitcoin’s price action quickly reflected the shock. Bitcoin became the world’s real-time measure of fear, plunging, recovering, and leaving traders bracing for what comes next.

Bitcoin’s price action took a hit almost as soon as reports emerged that US and Israeli forces were conducting military operations inside Iran. Notably, Bitcoin plunged from a price of $65,572 to $63,176 in about an hour overnight following word of the strikes. 

According to data from The Kobeissi Letter, over $100 million worth of leveraged Bitcoin longs were liquidated in just 15 minutes after the news broke out. The scale of the sell-off was significant: about $128 billion was wiped off the overall crypto market in a single hour as liquidations surged across global exchanges. 

However, Bitcoin did not stay down for long after the initial plunge. The largest cryptocurrency started to stage a rebound as traders speculated on unfolding developments, including confirmation of the death of Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei during the attacks. Early Asian trading saw BTC climb back above $67,000, regaining some ground as markets reevaluated the situation and eased momentary panic. 

Bitcoin rose as much as 2.21% above $68,000 following the news of Khamenei’s death, with Coingecko data pointing to an intraday high of $68,043. Still, the recovery has been uneven, with price action reflecting ongoing uncertainty over how the geopolitical tensions will be resolved. At the time of writing, Bitcoin’s price action has corrected a bit from this intraday high and is now trading at $66,310.

Despite the bounce, market analysts across social media platforms are recommending caution. The real price reaction will happen on Monday when US equity markets and Bitcoin ETFs reopen. As it stands, the attacks are not yet a contained event, with missiles still hitting Dubai and Iranian retaliation across the Gulf. There is also the risk of a full closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran.

Bitcoin is already currently down by almost 50% from its all-time peak of over $126,000 earlier in October 2024, unable to latch on to rallies in gold, silver, and other assets. All eyes will be on Monday’s market open, when the entire traditional investment niche starts to react to the full weight of the world’s most dramatic geopolitical escalation in years. Bitcoin is already in a fragile state, and because of that, a move to $60,000 could play out during the week if there’s any form of selling pressure.

Featured image from Pexels, chart from TradingView