Cryptocurrency Prices Dump As Middle Eastern Tensions Trigger Risk-off Panic – Here's The Latest

Cryptocurrency prices dumped on Friday as rising Middle Eastern tensions triggered risk-off panic selling across financial markets, with Bitcoin (BTC) losing 5% in the past 24 hours to fall under $67,000, and Ether (ETH) dropping 9% to the $3,200 area.

Israel is braced from a counterattack from Iran after they recently took out IRGC military leaders in Syria. Reports emerged on Friday that the US is moving warships to ready itself to defend Israel.

Tensions have been high in the Middle East since the October 7^th Hamas attack against Israel, and Israel's devastating counterattack into Gaza.

Rising fears that the US and Iran could find themselves engaged in a hot war roiled sentiment on Friday.

The S&P 500 hit its lows level in nearly a month just above 5,100, dropping 1.4% on the day.

Safe havens like the US dollar and Gold both jump. The DXY rallied above 106 for the first time last November, while gold briefly hit record highs above $2,400.

It’s no surprise then that cryptocurrency prices came under pressure – many investors deem cryptocurrencies as a high beta risk assets.

Altcoins Bear the Brunt as Cryptocurrency Prices Dump

The Friday sell-off in Bitcoin was decidedly mild compared to that of many major altcoins.

As per CoinMarketCap, the likes of Solana, XRP, Dogecoin, Toncoin, Cardano and Avalanche all dropped between 10-16% in 24 hours.

Dogwifhat, Bonk and Arbitrum were amongst the worst-performing names in the top 100 by market capitalization.

Friday's carnage saw open interest in altcoin cryptocurrencies slashed by 30%.