The price of Bitcoin pulled back to a low of just below $63,000 as momentum stalled in the run-up to its anticipated block reward halving.
With the halving just three days away, Bitcoin (BTC) slipped to a low of $61,867 and erased its gains over the past month. The cryptocurrency is currently trading at around $62,500, down 5.6% on the day and 11.2% on the week, per data from CoinGecko.
The wider crypto market tumbled alongside Bitcoin, with the combined market cap of all cryptocurrencies crashing by 6.4% to $2.4 trillion overnight.
All of the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market cap, barring stablecoins, have dropped overnight, with the likes of Solana (SOL), Toncoin (TON) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) down by double digits on the day.
The overnight price crash has seen more than $327 million in liquidations across the entire crypto market over the past 24 hours, with over $260 million in longs liquidated, per data from CoinGlass. Of those, Bitcoin itself accounts for over $83 million in longs liquidated during that period.
Up until a few days ago, the prevalent narrative had been that Bitcoin is seeing heightened volatility because of the halving. But now the market jitters appear to be linked to wider macro geopolitical concerns as tensions mount in the Middle East, including Israeli airstrikes in Gaza and a direct military attack by Iran on Israel.
The spot price of gold climbed to highs over $2,400 on Monday as consumers sought out traditional safe haven assets following Iran's attack on Israel over the weekend. Israel's military chief warned Monday that the country would respond to the attack, while world leaders urged restraint in the hopes of avoiding a spiraling crisis in the region.
Elsewhere, the U.S. dollar index hit a year-to-date high, reflecting a strong dollar and exacerbating the crypto market slowdown; the index tracks the dollar's value against six major foreign currencies, the Euro, Swiss franc, Japanese yen, Canadian dollar, British pound, and Swedish krona.
Edited by Stacy Elliott.