Bitcoin nears $81,000 as Iran oil fears and seized coin moves weigh

Bitcoin slid another leg lower, to $81,270, as oil climbed on renewed US-Iran strike fears and the US government moved about $1 billion in seized coins. The selling spread across the market, with total crypto market value down almost 6% in 24 hours.

Since our last recap put Bitcoin near $83,400, the scale of the government transfers has grown sharply, and Bitcoin has broken below its recent range.

Bitcoin

According to CoinGecko data as of 16:27 UTC on October 8, Bitcoin traded at $81,270, down 2.75% in 24 hours and 3.58% over seven days. The 24-hour range ran from $83,563 to $80,986. Trading volume was $37.8 billion.

Cointelegraph reports that Bitcoin dipped below $81,000 and neared a three-week low as oil prices gained on reports that military confrontation between the US and Iran could return. Decrypt says day traders are selling, leveraged long positions are being flushed and ETF money is leaving, adding that Bitcoin has now cut its September gains in half. The macro backdrop is also tight: our sister site covers how Fed minutes pointing to another rate hike pushed the dollar near an 18-month high.

Chart: BTC/USD on TradingView.

Ether and the majors

Ether fell harder than Bitcoin, losing 5.52% to $2,431.33 and trading near the bottom of its 24-hour range. Cardano was the weakest large cap, down almost 10% on the day.

Cardano's drop came on the same day CoinDesk reported that the Cardano Foundation spun out Veridian, the first company to tokenize its equity on Cardano's new programmable-token standard. The shares are not offered to the public.

Breadth and sentiment

Total crypto market capitalization stood at $2.758 trillion, down 5.91% in 24 hours. Bitcoin dominance was 59.1% and Ether dominance 10.8%.

The Crypto Fear & Greed Index read 64 (Greed), down from 71 a day earlier and 73 on October 6. It is the lowest reading in the past eight days, after 74 on October 1.

The news behind the move

Government coin transfers

CoinDesk reports, citing Arkham data, that the US government moved 12,267 BTC, worth about $1 billion, from a Bitfinex hack wallet to unlabeled wallets rather than an exchange, with no sale indicated. Earlier, Cointelegraph reported a separate transfer of 9,261 BTC, about $770 million, to Coinbase Prime, including 2,456 BTC in newly discovered funds tied to federal law enforcement seizures.

Thin fresh demand

Cointelegraph reports, citing Glassnode, that monthly new-money inflows were near $5 billion, with the rise in Bitcoin's realized cap mostly coming from existing holders rather than fresh capital.

EU stablecoin deadline

According to CoinDesk, the EU securities regulator ESMA gave authorized platforms three months to block new access to stablecoins that fail MiCA rules. Cointelegraph says firms should halt services involving non-compliant stablecoins.

AI security warnings

CoinDesk reports that Ethereum researchers urged holders to prepare a "bunker mode", warning AI could break the signatures guarding Bitcoin and Ether "in months, not years" in the worst case.

What to watch next

• Seized coins: whether the 12,267 BTC CoinDesk tracked to unlabeled wallets reaches an exchange.
• Oil and Iran: Cointelegraph links the latest dip to US-Iran strike fears.
• ESMA deadline: the three-month window for platforms to drop non-MiCA stablecoins.
• Tokenized stocks: CoinDesk says Securitize's tokenized Apple, Nvidia and Tesla shares start on Solana, with NYSE and OKX-ICE venues planned.
• Sui's Hashi: Cointelegraph reports more than $500 million in commitments ahead of its mainnet launch.