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BTC Slips Amid Iran Flareup

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Microsoft stock plunges 11% as Bitcoin traders seek refuge amid broader tech selloff

Bitcoin price today opened at $74,335, down 1.6% over 24 hours, Yahoo Finance reported, as the asset absorbed the weekend’s Iran escalation significantly better than oil, which surged over 5%, and European equities, which fell over 1%.

Summary

  • Brent crude surged over 5% and S&P 500 futures fell 0.5%, while Bitcoin dropped only 1.6%, the smallest BTC drawdown relative to oil of the entire Hormuz crisis.
  • Ethereum traded near $2,310, holding well above its post-Islamabad lows near $70,600, supported by nearly $1 billion in ETF inflows recorded last week.
  • The Crypto Fear and Greed Index rose to 29, its highest reading since late January, even as Iran’s IRGC threatened retaliation for the Touska seizure.

Bitcoin (BTC) price today is being closely watched for what it reveals about the structural change in how crypto absorbs Iran war headlines. CoinDesk noted Monday that BTC has “proved more resilient than oil and equities to the latest Iran-related flare-up.” Brent surged over 5%. S&P 500 futures dropped 0.5%. Dow Jones futures fell roughly 450 points. Bitcoin slipped 1.6% to $74,335.

Ethereum traded near $2,310, down less than 1% over 24 hours, holding the level it reclaimed after the April 8 ceasefire announcement. When Iran first closed the Strait of Hormuz at the end of February, Bitcoin dropped into the low $60,000s alongside every other risk asset. The same event replaying now, nearly 50 days into the conflict, produces a fraction of that drawdown.

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Last week, Bitcoin spot ETFs attracted nearly $597 million in inflows over two days on ceasefire hopes, according to SoSoValue data. That demand did not evaporate when the ceasefire began unraveling Saturday. Strategy added 34,164 bitcoin for $2.54 billion, its third-largest single purchase on record. The combination of sustained ETF buying and corporate accumulation means Iran headline selling is absorbed before it reaches significant depth in spot markets.

The pattern is visible across the conflict timeline. The February Hormuz closure sent BTC down roughly $15,000. Comparable escalations now produce moves of $3,000 to $4,000. Each successive Iran shock produces a smaller drawdown, reflecting the institutional demand floor that has built continuously through ETF inflows since January 2024.

What the ETF Floor Means for Ethereum

Ethereum at $2,310 is holding above the $2,200 level it reclaimed on the April 8 ceasefire announcement, though it sits below the $2,440 peak briefly reached Friday when Hormuz was declared open. The $130 gap between Friday’s high and Monday’s price represents the ceasefire premium that has since unwound.

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The ceasefire breach pattern across six weeks shows that crypto markets price each escalation fast but rarely surrender all prior gains, because traders are simultaneously pricing eventual resolution. Bitcoin’s key support sits between $73,000 and $74,000, where ETF inflows accelerated last week and where institutional buyers are expected to defend spot prices if selling resumes.

The Wednesday Expiry as the Hard Deadline

The April 22 ceasefire expiry is now two days away with no Iranian delegation confirmed for the Pakistan talks. A ceasefire extension or last-minute deal would likely replicate the April 8 template: oil falling 13% and BTC surging to $72,700 within hours of the original announcement.

A full collapse of negotiations with resumed strikes would test whether the institutional demand floor holds below $70,000, the level analysts identified as pre-conflict structural support. Bitcoin’s behavior at that level, whether it holds or breaks, will tell markets whether the floor is genuine or a product of ceasefire-specific sentiment that does not survive a return to open hostilities.

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Crypto World

Arbitrum Freezes 30K ETH Tied to Kelp Hack

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Arbitrum Freezes 30K ETH Tied to Kelp Hack

Ethereum layer-2 blockchain Arbitrum on Monday froze more than 30,000 Ether worth about $71.2 million held in a wallet connected to the recent exploit of the Kelp protocol.

Arbitrum said on Monday that its security council, a 12-member body elected by the Arbitrum community, took “emergency action” to freeze 30,766 Ether (ETH) that was held in a wallet connected to the Kelp exploit.

It added that the ETH had been moved to “an intermediary frozen wallet” and was “no longer accessible to the address that originally held the funds, and can only be moved by further action by Arbitrum governance.”

Kelp, a liquid restaking protocol, was hacked for at least $293 million on Saturday through its LayerZero-powered bridge, with LayerZero accusing North Korea of carrying out the attack.

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Source: Arbitrum

The exploit has caused millions of dollars’ worth of “bad debt” in the highly interconnected crypto lending market, as the attackers used stolen Kelp tokens to borrow cryptocurrencies on the lending platform Aave.

A blockchain freezing crypto is a divisive measure in the crypto sector, with opponents of freezes arguing that such action is antithetical to the purpose of the technology, while supporters argue it enhances security and maintains a network’s integrity.

Multiple users on X criticized Arbitrum over the freeze and questioned its decentralization in light of funds being frozen by decree of a council.

Related: Hackers impersonated eth.limo team to hijack its domain: Post-mortem

Griff Green, a member of the Arbitrum Security Council, posted to X that the group “did not make this decision lightly, there were countless hours of debates, technical, practical, ethical and political.”

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Green added that nine members of the 12-member council voted to freeze the funds, but did not share further details.

Arbitrum said its council acted with input from law enforcement and “weighed its commitment to the security and integrity of the Arbitrum community without impacting any Arbitrum users or applications.”

Magazine: South Korea gets rich from crypto… North Korea gets weapons