Israel's air strikes on Iran, will your crypto wallet suffer even greater losses?

Late Thursday, Israel launched an airstrike on Iran, shaking global financial markets and triggering a sell-off of risky assets, with Bitcoin prices falling accordingly.

Three points you need to know about your assets:

1. Bitcoin fell 5% to $102,900 in early trading on Friday after Israel launched airstrikes near Tehran and Tabriz.

2. The escalation of tensions in the Middle East has driven safe-haven funds into gold, and spot gold has soared to $3,429 due to safe-haven sentiment. .

3. U.S. officials said they were closely monitoring the situation, and oil and stock futures prices fell simultaneously.

Israel's air strikes on Iranian military targets have heightened tensions in the Middle East, leading to a widespread sell-off of risky assets, with Bitcoin prices falling more than 5% on Friday morning. The world's largest cryptocurrency fell from a 24-hour high of $108,500 to $102,900, according to TradingView data.

Israeli officials confirmed that the airstrikes targeted Iranian military facilities near Tehran and Tabriz, and called the move a "preemptive" action against a "growing threat." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a press conference on Thursday that Iran's nuclear ambitions were a "clear and present threat" and that the preemptive action would "last for days until the threat is eliminated."

Iran has not yet made an official response, but its state media reported that explosions occurred in the affected areas and caused air traffic to be interrupted. Earlier, Israeli defense officials held a meeting with senior US Defense Department officials. Washington did not make a clear comment on the airstrike, only saying that it was closely monitoring developments.

Ryan McMillin, chief investment officer of crypto fund manager Merkle Tree Capital, told Decrypt: "The latest escalation in tensions between Israel and Iran is hitting risk assets and oil markets, but we have seen this before." He added: "A similar incident in April 2024 triggered a weekend sell-off in the crypto market, but the market rebounded quickly after the situation eased. These moments are often good buying opportunities."

Jamie Coutts, chief crypto analyst at Real Vision, agreed with this and pointed out that Bitcoin is still a risk-on asset in the eyes of short-term traders, but the long-term allocation of institutional investors is gradually dominating its trend. "This explains why Bitcoin follows risk assets in the short term, but outperforms gold in the long term," he said.

At the same time, spot gold surged to $3,429 on safe-haven sentiment, while U.S. futures fell as investors worried about the risk of wider regional conflict.