coindesk.com
Geopolitical stress is back in the market, lifting oil higher. Still, bitcoin $BTC$77,528.67 is trading steadily during Asian hours, showing resilience and outperforming gold and stocks, a recurring theme through August.
Oil prices rose on both sides of the Atlantic after the U.S. attacked an Iranian island in the Strait of Hormuz, a major oil tanker route that has been disrupted since the conflict began six months ago. The attack drew retaliatory action from Iran.
WTI crude futures jumped nearly 2% to $85.10, with Brent rising 1.9% to $92.39, according to TradingView. Gold fell 0.8% to $4,418 per ounce, and futures tied to the Nasdaq slipped 0.5% alongside losses in Asian equity markets.
Bitcoin, however, traded near $77,580, largely unchanged since midnight UTC, according to CoinDesk. $BTC’s price has surged 23% this month versus gold’s 9% gain and the Nasdaq’s 4% rise. Other major tokens, however, traded slightly lower. Payments-focused $XRP ($XRP) fell by 0.8% with solana (SOL) down 0.6%.
Bitcoin’s continued outperformance could be linked to strong inflows into spot ETFs and hopes for aggressive intervention by the Fed in the wake of the Treasury’s bond buyback program.
However, on Friday, Fed chief Kevin Warsh delivered a hawkish speech at the Jackson Hole Symposium, raising hopes of an interest rate hike in September. Warsh noted that inflation remains insufficiently contained and argued that current financial conditions are not restrictive. He added that recent improvements in inflation are not yet enough to signal a meaningful improvement in underlying price pressures.
“The speech prompted a repricing of U.S. rates. Markets now assign a 58% probability of a September hike and price roughly 1.5 hikes by year-end,” Lloyd Chan, FX strategist, at MUFG noted.
Some crypto observers continue to call for caution.
“Investors should avoid aggressive leverage while macro uncertainty remains high. Staggered entries and smaller positions are preferable. Bitcoin has immediate support near $77,000. The $79,400–$80,800 range remains the key resistance zone ahead of the September 4 U.S. jobs report,” Vikram Subbaraj, CEO of India-based FIU-registered Giottus exchange, said in an email.