Bitcoin fell to a 10-day low below $76,500 after the US and Iran traded fresh strikes, unwinding part of its steep August rally. Ether, XRP and Solana slid alongside it as renewed Middle East tensions and rate jitters weighed on risk assets, while Uniswap defied the pullback with a near 10% jump.
Bitcoin was rejected on a few occasions at $79,000 over the past several days. The latest leg down pushed it under $76,500 for the first time since August 23. The main driver sits in the Middle East, where the US and Iran traded a fresh round of strikes overnight Tuesday as the countries remained at odds over the Strait of Hormuz.
A stalled August breakout
Bitcoin's breakout that began on August 19 drove a surge of over $16,000. It pushed the price above $81,000 on a couple of occasions last week before bears stepped in. The rally then stalled after Friday's drop to $77,000 followed a hawkish Jackson Hole speech from new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh.
Sentiment recovered over the weekend, and bitcoin tapped $79,000 on Sunday evening before the US and Iran resumed strikes, pulling it back down $2,000. Bulls pushed the cryptocurrency to $79,000 again on Tuesday, but another leg down followed reports. Those reports said the US and Iran had carried out more violent strikes.
Bitcoin now trades near $77,000, with a market cap under $1.550 trillion. Its dominance over altcoins has slipped to 59.6% on CoinMarketCap.
Oil surge stokes rate hike bets
Neither side has signaled intent to deescalate: President Donald Trump threatened to attack Iran's oil infrastructure, while Tehran warned of more attacks on US bases in Gulf countries. Oil prices rose sharply on the renewed fighting, marking the worst US-Iran hostilities in over a month.
The jump stoked inflation concerns that pushed government bond yields across Japan, Australia, the US and Europe higher. As a result, markets are increasing bets that the Federal Reserve will hike rates in September, a headwind for a purely speculative asset like bitcoin.
Ether, XRP and Solana extend losses
Most large-cap alts followed bitcoin lower. Ether fell 2.7% to $2,386.3, while XRP dropped 2.6% to $1.3314.
Solana fell 2.7%. Cardano slipped 0.9%.
Dogecoin fell 1.7%. Uniswap bucked the trend, surging almost 10% to over $6.2. FIL climbed 14% and BTW gained 13% among mid- and lower-cap names.
The total crypto market cap slipped almost 1% daily to $2.6 trillion on CMC.
Sources: CryptoPotato, Cryptocurrency News
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