BTC, ETH, XRP Dip on US-Iran Clashes Induced Crypto Selloffs
Stoked by negative sentiment, Bitcoin (BTC). Ethereum (ETH) and Ripple (XRP) prices declined on Friday amid US-Iran tensions, triggering a fresh cryptocurrency selloff.
Investors reacted negatively to renewed U.S.-Iran military tensions around the Strait of Hormuz, triggering a rapid risk-off move in crypto, shaking out leverage and knocking major coins off recent highs.
U.S.-Iran tensions have turned into a macro shock, pushing a leveraged, near-record crypto market into a rapid de-risking move, with oil and inflation fears amplifying the impact.
Several outlets report renewed military clashes between the United States and Iran, including airstrikes in Iran and attacks near the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil shipping route, which sent Brent crude briefly above 100 dollars per barrel and rattled global risk assets.
Bitcoin dropped from recent highs above $82,000 to below $80,000 while Ethereum fell over 6 percent and majors like Solana, BNB, XRP and Dogecoin also slid.
The sell pressures dragged total crypto market cap down by roughly 3.8 percent intraday to about 2.61 trillion dollars before stabilising around 2.66 trillion dollars.
Crypto market coverage and Bitcoin-focused reports explicitly tie the move to the latest U.S.-Iran strikes and tanker incidents. This suggests that the selloff is not random. It is a macro shock hitting a market that was near highs and already carrying significant leverage.
Geopolitical stress in Hormuz lifts oil risk premia and keeps inflation worries alive, which tends to reduce expectations of easy central bank policy and hurts liquidity-sensitive assets like crypto.
Investors rotated funds into gold and U.S. equities, with the S&P 500 making new highs, while crypto sold off, suggesting investors treated Bitcoin and altcoins as high-beta risk rather than a pure safe haven.
At the same time, derivatives markets saw around 300 to 350 million dollars in long liquidations and a 1 to 2 percent drop in futures open interest, with options flow tilting toward protective Bitcoin puts and high beta and meme coins logging double digit intraday losses. Bitcoin Tops $79K, Hyperliquid Launches BTC Price Prediction
