Bitcoin Plummets to $103K as Crypto Markets Lose $200B Overnight Amid Israel-Iran Escalation
Crypto markets got a brutal wake-up call as Bitcoin nosedived toward $103K—dragging the total market cap down by a stomach-churning $200 billion in hours. Geopolitical shockwaves from Middle East tensions just gave HODLers their worst morning since 2022.
When missiles fly, crypto dies?
The sell-off hit like a sledgehammer after Israel’s strike on Iran went live. Altcoins bled out faster than a DeFi hack victim, with even blue-chips like Ethereum and Solana down double-digits. Traders scrambled for stablecoins like lifeboats on the Titanic.
Silver lining? The ‘buy the dip’ crowd is already circling. Because nothing screams ‘safe haven asset’ like a market that drops 10% before breakfast. Meanwhile, gold bugs are smugly sipping tea—their ancient shiny rock barely flinched.
Crypto Assets Crash
Liquidation data from Coinglass shows that there has been $1 billion in liquidations over the past 12 hours, and almost 250,000 traders were liquidated over the past 24 hours.
More than 90% of those positions were long, and the majority of them were in Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Bitcoin led the losses, tanking hard and fast in a $5,000 dump from an intraday high of $108,350 to bottom out at $103,000 during Asian trading on Friday morning.
The asset found support there and had reclaimed $104,000 at the time of writing, remaining within its six-week range-bound channel.
Ethereum prices crashed more than 9%, tumbling from $2,760 to bottom out at $2,470 in a matter of hours. The asset had crept back over $2,500, where solid support lies at the time of writing.
Altcoins suffered even more pain with Solana getting smashed 12% in a fall back to $140, Dogecoin dumping 10% in a dip to $0.17, and Cardano crashing 9.5% in a slide to $0.62.
Other altcoins DEEP in the red include Sui, Chainlink, Avalanche, Shiba Inu, and Hedera.
Nevertheless, losses were not so bad for BNB and Tron, which dipped a couple of percentage points.
Total crypto market cap is down 7.9% to $3.34T amid Middle East tensions.
Meme and Layer 2 categories saw the steepest declines, each falling over 12%.
View breakdown here:https://t.co/YqL9362eES pic.twitter.com/58V3Ob712L
— CoinGecko (@coingecko) June 13, 2025
Bullish Background Remains
Despite the geopolitical-driven drop, a bullish background prevails, so a rebound could be likely as bitcoin and its brethren are often seen as safe havens during periods of turmoil.
“As geopolitical conflicts rise, investors often flee to fiat-based sovereign debt for ‘safety’. This, of course, is ultimately a mistake, as inevitable money printing and monetary debasement soon follow. Smart investors will flee to assets that cannot be debased. The smartest will buy Bitcoin,” said former hedge fund manager James Lavish.
The pro-crypto narrative from the United States continues to strengthen with the Securities and Exchange Commission withdrawing a tranche of Gary Gensler-era rules on June 12. Additionally, the US and China struck a trade deal this week as tariff tensions eased.
However, benchmark Brent crude oil prices spiked by more than 8% and Gold prices ticked up to $3,440 per ounce on the specter of all-out war.
