As it seems that the United States has dissuaded Israel from launching a counterattack, the market has moved past worries of tensions between Iran and Israel intensifying.
After Iran launched a huge drone and missile attack against Israel, which was mostly stopped by air defense systems, market volatility has subsided and Bitcoin (BTC) is trading above $65,000 while ether (ETH) is back above $3100.
Over the weekend, as geopolitical uncertainty rocked the markets, Bitcoin fell below $62,000. But as the United States has decided not to support an Israeli counterattack on Iran, tensions appear to have decreased, and this confrontation won't worsen, according to Al-Jazeera.
By April 15, traders on Polymarket predict a 4% likelihood of Israeli military action against Iran. This is a decrease from about 57% in the immediate hours after Iran’s missile attack.
While cryptocurrency traders left riskier assets for the security of gold, PAXG, a tokenized digital asset established by Paxos, was trading at a 20% premium above its analog equivalent at the height of the tensions.
Due of U.S. tax season, which falls in the run-up to the halving, the digital asset market was already experiencing extreme selling pressure before the tension started.
According to Arthur Hayes' blog entry on the subject, "Given that the halving occurs at a time when dollar liquidity is tighter than usual, it will add propellant to a raging firesale of crypto assets."
This week, bitcoin and maybe ether ETFs are expected to debut in Hong Kong, providing traders in China with more convenient access to exposure to digital assets. According to Matrixport, these ETFs have the potential to generate up to $25 billion in demand.
April 2024, Cryptoniteuae