Bitcoin and the broader crypto market rebounded on Tuesday after President Donald Trump announced a pause in the escalating conflict between Iran and Israel, and despite his follow up warnings to both countries.
“It has been fully agreed by and between Israel and Iran that there will be a complete and total ceasefire,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social Monday evening. In another post on Tuesday morning, the president announced that the ceasefire was “now in effect.”
Following the announcement of the ceasefire agreement on Monday evening, Bitcoin jumped 2%, climbing from $104,000 to $106,000 as of Tuesday afternoon, according to Binance. Other cryptocurrencies have surged on the news as well with XRP gaining 5% over that time period, Solana gaining 3% and Ethereum gaining 6%. The crypto market as a whole has added 3% to its market cap since the announcement, growing from $3.19 trillion to $3.27 trillion since Monday evening.
“We’re seeing Bitcoin surge back to $105,000 and other major currencies like Ethereum, Solana, and XRP showing strong rallies of their own,” David Siemer, CEO of crypto asset manager Wave Digital Assets, told Fortune. “This is largely due to easing tensions in the Middle East after the U.S.-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Iran.”
Trump went on to rebuke both nations on Tuesday morning for taking actions that he said violated the terms of the truce, but cryptocurrencies ignored any diplomatic hiccups and remained strong
The latest conflict between both countries started earlier this month, when a United Nations-backed nuclear watchdog released a report claiming that Iran was not complying with nuclear safeguards. Shortly after the report’s release, Israel launched a series of airstrikes on June 13 targeting nuclear sites in Iran and killing top Iranian officials.
The threat of all-out war between the two nations grew in recent weeks as Iran retaliated by launching airstrikes of its own against Israel, and the two nations continued to exchange fire. However, the conflict escalated to a new level when Trump announced that the U.S. military had conducted airstrikes on multiple nuclear sites in Iran over the weekend.
“We have completed our very successful attack on the three nuclear sites in Iran,” Trump said on Truth Social on Saturday. “A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow.”
News that the U.S. had become involved in the conflict between Iran and Israel sent investors fleeing volatile assets like cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin fell from $103,000 to below $100,000 on Sunday for the first time in more than a month, as investors braced for Iran’s response to the attack.
It remains to be seen if the ceasefire will hold, or what will happen next. But for now, cryptocurrency holders are enjoying the rebound after previous lows on Tuesday.
“There is reason to believe that markets may continue to be reactive over the next few weeks,” Siemer said. “Institutional players in the digital asset space are closely watching developments and assessing their risk appetite.”
