On April 13, Iran initiated a drone strike on Israel followed by reports that unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were intercepted by Israeli, U.S., and other Western allied forces. Concurrently, bitcoin and the broader crypto economy experienced a significant downturn, with many analyzing the fundamentals in the context of a potentially intensifying military conflict.
Community Reacts as Geopolitical Strife Influences Bitcoin’s Market Dynamics
When Iran initiated a drone airstrike on Israel, bitcoin (BTC) plummeted in value shortly after the news emerged, with the wider crypto market declining in tandem with the leading cryptocurrency. Within hours of the event, social media platforms such as X displayed trending topics such as “World War III,” capturing widespread attention. Concurrently, numerous voices from the cryptocurrency community were quick to comment.
“Imagine selling your bitcoin because you’re expecting an escalation in military conflicts,” BTC advocate Jameson Lopp posted on X on Saturday. Meanwhile, gold enthusiast and economist Peter Schiff seized the moment to criticize bitcoin. “Bitcoin just flash crashed to just above $61K,” Schiff said. “That’s just 26 ounces of gold. At its peak 2.5 years ago one bitcoin was worth 37 ounces of gold. That’s a decline of 30%. Digital Fool’s Gold is clearly in a bear market when priced in real gold.”
Economist and trader Alex Krüger offered his insights. “Iran attacked Israel. Wild volatility again,” Krüger wrote. This is not about neither charts nor fundamentals. This is about war, headlines, and managing risk smartly. If war escalates, we are going much lower. If there is no follow-up from Israel, we recover the entire dump. Hard to imagine no follow-up, but who knows? Good luck friends.”
In another post, Krüger added:
Escalation is not priced in. There is no need to rush to buy. IMO if the conflict fully resolves then we are going so much higher you’ll have time to deploy stables higher and still profit. Unless trading liquidations, time to be patient.
Others compared the recent Middle Eastern conflict to the war between Russia and Ukraine. “Remember when Russia invaded Ukraine and Bitcoin never recovered and went to zero immediately afterward?” asked the X account Kaleo. “You don’t? It’s because it didn’t happen.” The X account Autism Capital checked on its followers, asking if everyone was okay, and shared a meme stating, “Marked safe from the fake WW3 market shake out today.” Another humorously commented:
Multiple drones were launched at my portfolio today…
