The war has entered its fifth week with its most significant expansion yet, as Iran-backed forces opened a new front and additional U.S. troops moved into the region, heightening fears of a broader conflict.
Bitcoin briefly sold off in response. The cryptocurrency dropped to $65,112 early Monday — its lowest level since February’s downturn — before recovering to $67,402 as Asian trading got underway, according to CoinDesk data.
The 24-hour range of $65,112 to $67,389 reflects a market that initially reacted sharply to overnight escalation headlines but found support near $65,000 — a level that had remained untouched since the conflict’s first weekend.
Altcoins posted modest rebounds alongside bitcoin. Ethereum gained 2% to $2,044, Solana rose 0.9% to $83.48, and XRP added 1.4% to $1.35. Despite the daily gains, the weekly trend remains under pressure, with bitcoin down 1%, ethereum 0.9%, XRP 1.9%, and Solana 3.7%. Tron continues to outperform, rising 2.6% on the day and 4.6% over the week.
The latest escalation came from multiple directions. Iran-backed Houthi forces joined the conflict, expanding it beyond the core U.S.-Israel-Iran axis, while the arrival of additional U.S. troops fueled concerns over a potential ground operation.
The Wall Street Journal reported that President Donald Trump is considering a military plan to remove enriched uranium from Iran — a key component in nuclear weapons production — though no final decision has been made. Meanwhile, Iran reportedly targeted two aluminum production facilities, sending prices for the metal up as much as 6% and extending the war’s economic impact beyond oil into industrial commodities.
Brent crude climbed 2.5% to around $115 per barrel, lifting its year-to-date gains to roughly 90%. Asian equity markets declined sharply, with South Korea’s benchmark falling 3.2% amid a tech sell-off and Japan’s Nikkei dropping 3.4%. U.S. stock futures, however, pared earlier losses and traded near flat, suggesting some stabilization after the initial reaction.
From a technical standpoint, bitcoin’s drop to $65,112 is notable, as it sits close to the $64,000 low recorded on Feb. 28, when the conflict began. Over the past five weeks, bitcoin had been forming a sequence of higher lows with each escalation — rising from $64,000 to $66,000, $68,000, $69,400, and $70,596.
Monday’s move below $66,000 breaks that pattern for the first time, raising the possibility that the uptrend is weakening. Whether bitcoin can reclaim higher levels or begins to slip below the established range will likely define near-term price action.
Meanwhile, rising oil prices and the spike in aluminum — driven by direct attacks on production facilities — suggest inflationary pressures are spreading beyond energy into broader industrial supply chains. This complicates the Federal Reserve’s policy outlook and further delays expectations for rate cuts.
