Bitcoin fell below $104,000 after Israel struck Iran

Bitcoin traded below $104,000 during the opening market shock from Israel’s June 13, 2025 strikes on Iran, while ether and a broad group of large cryptoassets recorded steeper losses.

The move mattered because cryptocurrency markets supplied continuous price discovery while geopolitical risk was escalating and many traditional venues were closed. It also tested bitcoin’s sometimes-promoted safe-haven narrative: the initial response resembled a sale of risk assets, not an immediate migration into a digital alternative to gold.

A sudden but measurable risk-off move

At 10:08 p.m. Eastern on June 12—02:08 UTC on June 13—The Block reported bitcoin at $103,802, down approximately 4.5% over its preceding 24-hour window. Ether was quoted at $2,497 after a reported 10% decline. Those were point-in-time, cross-market measurements rather than calendar-day closes.

By 7:15 a.m. Eastern on June 13, CoinDesk measured bitcoin down 2.9% over 24 hours and its CoinDesk 20 broad-market index down 6.1%. Solana was reported nearly 9.5% lower. The smaller bitcoin decline relative to the diversified index showed that the selling was more severe across several non-bitcoin assets.

A Reuters-syndicated report updated at 13:00 India Standard Time—07:30 UTC—placed bitcoin at $104,345 on international exchanges, down 3.22% under the publication’s stated Friday comparison. It recorded ether at $2,513, down 9.05%, and total cryptocurrency market capitalization at $3.25 trillion, 4.14% lower over 24 hours. The report did not identify a consolidated venue set or precise price-sampling methodology, limiting direct comparison with other publications.

Bitcoin recovered before the dated snapshot

CoinMarketCap’s historical snapshot for June 13 recorded bitcoin at $106,090.97, with a $2.109 trillion estimated market capitalization and $69.55 billion in reported trailing 24-hour volume. Its displayed 24-hour change was positive 0.15%.

That result does not invalidate the earlier selloff. Crypto trades continuously, so rolling percentage changes depend on the observation time and comparison point. Bitcoin could fall sharply during the initial news shock, recover during June 13 and finish an aggregator’s dated snapshot with little net change over its newly shifted 24-hour window.

The recovery was also uneven. CoinMarketCap’s same snapshot showed ether down 2.73% over 24 hours at $2,579.49, solana down 2.72% at $148.63, XRP down 2.08% at $2.1490 and cardano down 3.27% at $0.6421. The dataset therefore supports a bounded conclusion: bitcoin recovered more fully than several other large cryptoassets by the snapshot cutoff.

CoinMarketCap aggregates markets rather than operating a regulated consolidated tape. Its market capitalization figures multiply price by estimated circulating supply, and its volume totals do not establish net inflows, investor identity or the amount of new capital entering an asset.

The geopolitical trigger and its limits

In a June 13 briefing, the Israel Defense Forces said it had launched Operation Rising Lion overnight and struck military and nuclear-program-related targets across Iran. That primary record establishes the timing and Israel’s description of the operation; its strategic and intelligence assertions remained claims by a party to the conflict.

The close timing between reports of the strikes and the crypto decline supports describing the event as the immediate market trigger, consistent with multiple contemporaneous reports. Price records alone cannot prove why each participant sold, however, or separate discretionary risk reduction from automated liquidations, derivatives hedging and changes in market-maker liquidity.

June 13 consequently demonstrated both sides of crypto’s continuous-market role. Digital assets repriced geopolitical risk before conventional markets completed their response, but bitcoin’s subsequent recovery made any single intraday quote an incomplete description of the session. The defensible event-day finding is a sharp, broad risk-off shock followed by a stronger bitcoin rebound—not proof of permanent safe-haven status or a lasting market trend.