Bitcoin climbed back above $70,000 after President Donald Trump said the United States had held “productive discussions” with Iran and would postpone planned attacks on Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for five days.
In a March 23 post on Truth Social, Trump wrote in capital letters:
“BASED ON THE TENOR AND TONE OF THESE DEPTH, DETAILED AND CONSTRUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS, WHICH WILL CONTINUE THROUGHOUT THE WEEK, I HAVE INSTRUCTED THE WAR DEPARTMENT TO POSTPONE ANY AND ALL MILITARY ATTACKS AGAINST Iranian POWER PLANTS AND ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE FOR ANOTHER FIVE-DAY PERIOD, SUBJECT TO THE SUCCESS OF THE ONGOING MEETINGS AND DISCUSSIONS.”
Trump said the delay would depend on the outcome of talks that will continue next week.
This alleviated some of the risk aversion that had spread across global markets earlier in the session.
Data from CryptoSlate showed that this move pushed Bitcoin up about 3.6% on the day to $70,968, after trading as low as $67,436 intraday.
Other digital assets, including Ethereum,
After the rebound, short sellers betting on upward market momentum lost $271 million in the past hour, bringing their total losses in the past 24 hours to $364 million.
Trump’s changing stance on the war with Iran
This market-wide recovery came after a volatile weekend in which Trump made a series of shifting statements on the conflict.
Trump had previously threatened to destroy Iran’s energy infrastructure if the Strait of Hormuz was not reopened, while Iran warned it would retaliate against infrastructure linked to US interests and regional allies.
These markets pushed markets toward a classic risk holdout earlier on Monday, with oil prices rising, stock prices falling and investors reassessing the outlook for inflation and interest rates.
When Trump announced the pause, the backlash quickly spread across asset classes. Oil prices fell sharply as traders cut some of the geopolitical premium linked to fears of disruption in the Gulf.
Oil price data show that West Texas Intermediate crude fell 13% to $85.45 a barrel and Brent fell 12% to $98.66 after Trump’s post signaled a temporary opening for diplomacy.
At the same time, US stock futures recovered by more than 2%, reflecting a partial pullback from the defensive positioning that dominated earlier in the day.
While Europe’s STOXX 600 pared losses of more than 2.2% to trade higher, and the dollar gave back earlier gains as investors reacted to the prospect of a temporary de-escalation.