2 Reasons Bitcoin Price Crashed Below $73,000 Today

Bitcoin’s price tumbled, losing more than 3.5% in the past 24 hours.

The move saw the cryptocurrency decline by over $2,000, resulting in elevated liquidations across derivatives positions, which currently amount to slightly less than $1 billion.

There are a few reasons for this, so let’s have a look at the most likely ones.

US Resumes Strikes on Iran

As CryptoPotato reported earlier today, the US resumed strikes on Iran. To be precise, they targeted an Iranian military site, while the US shot down a total of four Iranian drones, which posed a threat around the Strait of Hormuz, according to available coverage.

Speaking on the matter, an official told Reuters:

That said, there already was a retaliation on behalf of Iran, which struck a US base in Kuwait. The country’s IRGC released a statement, confirming the attack, and saying that “aggression will not go unanswered.”

Oil prices surged on the news, rising 5% and putting additional strain on the global economy, which in turn had an immediate impact on Bitcoin’s price. The latter is widely seen as a risk-on asset, meaning that geopolitical uncertainty is much more likely to negatively impact its short-term value.

$1.3B Block Sale on BlackRock

Yesterday, we reported that someone offloaded 29 million shares of IBIT (BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF). That position alone was worth a whopping $1.3 billion, officially making it the largest block trade of this kind and marking the largest single-day outflow from BTC ETFs.

Now that we have more context, it raises the question: did the entity have inside information about what’s to come?

Speculation aside, spot Bitcoin ETFs have grown to a position of importance and liquidating large portions surely have more than just an immediate impact on the price. They signal confidence (or the lack of) in the asset and a $1.3 billion block sale is surely to raise more than just a few eyebrows.

The post 2 Reasons Bitcoin Price Crashed Below $73,000 Today appeared first on CryptoPotato.