Cryptocurrency prices jumped on Monday after US President Donald Trump said the country would postpone attacks on Iranian power plants for five days, easing fears of an escalation of the conflict.
However, a contradictory report emerged from Iran’s Fars news agency that the talks cited by the US president had not taken place at all, adding to the confusion in the markets.
Trump said in a Truth Social article that the two countries had “very good and productive conversations regarding a complete and total resolution of our hostilities in the Middle East.”
This five-day hiatus does not end the war, however, as Iran continues to strike targets across the Gulf and Israel is expected to join in as well. The gains later began to reverse after Fars, citing an unidentified source, denied any negotiations between the countries, according to Al Jazeera.
Bitcoin which fell below $68,000 overnight, climbed above $71,000 in early US hours before edging closer to $70,000 after the Iranian response. Ether (ETH), solana (SOL and Chainlink all rose up to 5% over 24 hours before giving back some of the gains.
Gold erased almost all of its earlier losses, now down just 1% on the day and rebounding to $4,440 an ounce. The US dollar index, DXY, fell to 99.3.
Bond yields fell globally, with the US 10-year yield falling 100 basis points to 4.3%.
Meanwhile, WTI crude is down 11% on the day, trading below $88 per barrel, while Brent crude fell 8% to around $100 per barrel. Tokenized Brent futures saw liquidations of $62.4 million on Hyperliquid.
Data from CoinGlass shows $62.41 million in liquidations on the XYZ:BRENTOIL contract over the past 24 hours, including $61.69 million in long positions and just $717,000 in short positions.
Galaxy Digital (GLXY) rose 2% in pre-market trading, while Coinbase (COIN) and IREN (IREN) also added around 2% each. Strategy (MSTR), the largest Bitcoin holding company, gained more than 3%.
Despite the market’s knee-jerk risk response and falling oil prices, bitcoin options continue to reflect a defensive bias.
At the time of writing, puts on Deribit continued to trade at an 8-10 point volatility premium over calls through the end of June expiration, virtually unchanged from the start of the day, according to data source Amberdata. The same goes for ether options.
This suggests traders remain cautious, viewing the latest rebound with skepticism and bracing for potential aftershocks from the recent oil surge in broader markets and the global economy.
CORRECT (March 23, 11:30 UTC): Corrects first paragraph to say attacks will be postponed. An earlier version of this story said they would be stepped up.
UPDATE (March 23, 11:40 UTC): Adds crude prices, options.
UPDATE (March 23, 12:15 UTC): Adds Iranian refusal of talks from first paragraph.
