Bitcoin pared its earlier losses on Thursday afternoon after US President Donald Trump said he would extend a pause in attacks on Iran’s energy infrastructure.
In an article by Truth Social, Trump said the pause would now be 10 days, citing ongoing diplomatic talks.
“In accordance with the request of the Government of Iran…I am suspending the 10-day period for the destruction of energy plants,” Trump wrote, adding that “talks are underway” and “they are going very well.”
The news helped stabilize markets after a bad Thursday that saw bitcoin fall 3% and the Nasdaq 2.4%, with the tech-heavy index now down around 10% since its year-high in late January.
The surge in oil prices since the start of hostilities has grabbed headlines, but the sell-off in Western bond markets is becoming increasingly worrying.
The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield – below 4% just a few weeks ago – jumped as high as 4.43% on Thursday, before returning to the current level of 4.41%. Along with this sharp rise came not only the fading of expectations of interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve, but also serious bets on an upcoming rate hike by the US central bank.
Similar developments in bond yields and central bank expectations are also occurring in Western Europe.
Nonetheless, Trump’s comments sent bitcoin up about 1% from its worst levels, and it is now trading just above $69,000. Ether (ETH), XRP (XRP), Solana (SOL) and all also rebounded from session lows, although they remained 3-5% lower over the past 24 hours.
