Benzinga - by Bibhu Pattnaik, Benzinga Staff Writer.
The cryptocurrency market experienced a sharp decline on Saturday, following reports that Iran had initiated an attack on Israel.
This development sent shockwaves through the digital asset space, causing significant drops across major cryptocurrencies.
The information, confirmed by Iran's state media, indicated that the drone attack was in retaliation for a previous incident in Syria, which resulted in the death of military generals, with Iran attributing the attack to Israeli forces. The immediate market reaction was unmistakable, with Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH), and Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) recording declines of 7%, 9%, and 16%, respectively.
More cryptocurrencies like Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) and Shiba Inu (CRYPTO: SHIB) were hit even harder, facing losses upwards of 20%.
The rapid market movement highlights the sensitivity of cryptocurrency assets to global geopolitical events, especially during weekends when traditional financial markets are closed.
Also Read: Dogecoin Set to Surge Over 200%, Says Crypto Analyst: 'It's Going To Do Something Insane This Cycle'
As the global crypto market tumbled by 9% shortly after the news broke, stakeholders and investors were reminded of digital currencies' volatile nature and susceptibility to external factors.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading at $63,522.30, Ethereum was at $2,979.69, Solana was at $137.31, DOGE was $0.1483, and SHIB was at $0.0000211.
"A continuation of the crypto selloff is probably contingent on further escalation,” Zaheer Ebtikar, founder of crypto fund Split Capital told Bloomberg on Saturday.
“People will really look for what markets will look like on Monday. Leverage has gotten completely overwhelmed in the last three days, so that’s caused prices to materially deteriorate in digital assets," he added.
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