Bitcoin climbed above $71,000, gaining more than 6% in 24 hours and leading broad advances in major cryptocurrencies.
Updated Mar 4, 2026, 10:30 a.m. Published Mar 4, 2026, 9:16 a.m.
Bitcoin BTC$72,578.05 surged Wednesday, underscoring its growing resilience to turmoil in the Middle East, while gold, a traditional safe haven, lagged.
The leading cryptocurrency by market value rose to $71,023 during the European hours, up over 6% on a 24-hour basis, according to CoinDesk data. Other majors such as ether (ETH), XRP (XRP) and solana (SOL) followed bitcoin's lead, rising between 4% and 6%.
The CoinDesk 20 Index, a broader market gauge, rose over 5% to 2,025 points.
"Bitcoin may now exhibit some defensive characteristics during crisis periods, but gold’s retreat highlights that even classic safe-havens are not immune to market dynamics, positioning Bitcoin as a more flexible yet still high-beta alternative," Tagus Capital said in its daily newsletter.
BTC's climb to the highest since Feb. 8 follows even as the crisis has intensified, with Iran blocking oil supplies through the Strait of Hormuz and raising the specter of energy‑price inflation around the world. Since the conflict with Israel and the U.S. erupted on Saturday, bitcoin has proved surprisingly resilient, with the downside capped around $65,000.
Meanwhile, gold, a traditional safe haven, peaked above $5,400 per ounce on Monday and has since declined to $5,160. Asian equity indexes, led by South Korea's Kospi index, have bled heavily as oil imports cost rise.
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Bitcoin pulls back to near $71,000 even as software sector soars
The two battered markets have had a nearly one-to-one correlation in recent months, but are moving in opposite directions on Thursday.
- Bitcoin's rally is taking a breather in U.S. trading on Thursday morning, with the price barely holding above $71,000 after challenging $74,000 a few hours ago.
- Crypto is declining even as the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV) has risen more than 2%.
- Tomorrow brings the key U.S. jobs report for February as traders rapidly cut bets on any more Fed rate cuts in the first half of 2026.
