Bitcoin Stocks retreated from Asian session highs, while U.S. stock futures also fell as Iran stepped up attacks in the Middle East, reportedly attacking an oil refinery in Saudi Arabia.
The leading cryptocurrency fell back below $66,000 after hitting a high of nearly $67,000 in early Asian trade. S&P 500 e-mini futures fell to 6,790, down 1.4% on the day, reversing an early rise to 6,857. Meanwhile, oil prices continued to rise more than 7% on both sides of the Atlantic.
Iran has reportedly stepped up missile attacks on U.S. assets in Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, according to several Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) sources on X. Iran also attacked Saudi Aramco’s Ras Tanura refinery, the head of the widely watched War & Gore OSINT said. Saudi Aramco is the world’s largest oil producing company.
Meanwhile, Israel carried out another round of airstrikes in Lebanon, targeting Iran’s main regional proxy Hezbollah, the BBC reported.
Stephen Coltman, director of macro at 21shares, said Iran’s attacks on neighbors are designed to increase the cost of the conflict for the United States.
“Iran’s strategy to date has been to increase the cost of sustaining the conflict for the United States by launching attacks on neighboring countries and seeking to disrupt the flow of oil and liquefied natural gas through the Strait of Hormuz,” he told CoinDesk in an email.
“Wars typically spark inflation, push up commodity prices and widen fiscal deficits, although there is an initial knee-jerk sell-off at the onset of a conflict,” he added, hinting at the potential for assets like Bitcoin that are viewed as stores of value to appreciate.
The conflict began on Saturday after the United States and Israel attacked Israel in what was described as a pre-emptive strike aimed at crippling its missile arsenal and nuclear ambitions. So far, Bitcoin has shown no signs of safe-haven demand.
7:42 UTC: Added comment from 21Shares.
