Bloomberg: Bitcoin Rebounds Above $68,000 After Iran's Top Leader Dies

March 1 (Bloomberg) — The crypto market staged a sharp rebound during Sunday’s Asian trading session after Iran confirmed top leader Ayatollah Khamenei was killed in a U.S. military operation. Bitcoin rose as much as 2.21% to $68,196 before paring gains to around $67,300; it had fallen 3.8% the previous day. Ethereum climbed 4.58% at its peak, reclaiming the $2,000 level. Data shows the crypto market recovered roughly $32 billion in early Sunday trading, after shedding $128 billion in market capitalization the day prior. Analysts noted crypto’s 24/7 trading let Bitcoin act as a “liquidity release valve” amid escalating weekend geopolitical tensions, absorbing selling pressure that would otherwise have spilled over into stocks, bonds, and commodities. Uncertainty lingers, however: Iran has launched retaliatory attacks across Israel, Qatar, the UAE, and Bahrain, and threatened further strikes on U.S.-linked bases. Some traders say true price discovery may unfold once U.S. stocks and Bitcoin ETFs resume trading Monday. Derivatives markets also saw intense volatility. Analytics firms reported Bitcoin derivatives trading volume surged $1.8 billion in a single hour last Saturday, signaling rising short-term hedging sentiment. Meanwhile, tokenized commodity contracts tied to oil, gold, and silver on decentralized exchange Hyperliquid also gained value.