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As military clashes in the Middle East intensify and an oil shock has sent international crude prices soaring nearly 20%, the market for risk assets including Bitcoin (BTC) has been swept by massive shockwaves, plunging into a broad sell-off.
According to cryptocurrency media outlet CoinDesk on March 9 (local time), with no signs of easing in the war between the United States and Iran over the weekend, April West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures surged 19.1% to $108.35 per barrel in Sunday evening U.S. trading. This marks nearly double the price seen at the beginning of 2026 and the highest level in four years.
The spike in oil prices immediately battered global equity markets and digital asset markets. U.S. stock index futures fell nearly 2% across the board, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 futures, ahead of market open, plunged 3.1%. Other commodities, including precious metals and copper, also showed overall weakness with modest declines.
Amid the fallout, Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency by market capitalization, dropped 2% to fall below the $66,000 level. Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL), both among the top-cap assets, also recorded declines of around 1.4%, effectively replicating the familiar pattern of early-week weakness seen in recent months.
Meanwhile, market analysts noted that while Bitcoin trades similarly to technology stocks, showing a relatively high correlation of around 0.5 with major equity indices, the actual influence of stock market movements on Bitcoin’s price fluctuations is limited to about 25%, making it still an effective portfolio diversification tool. The central debate in the market has now shifted beyond Bitcoin’s mere survival to whether it can function as a sovereign reserve asset from the perspective of institutional investors.
Ultimately, Bitcoin’s intrinsic value stems not from adoption by central banks but from the characteristics of its globally distributed and politically neutral network, as well as adoption by retail traders. Even amid short-term downturns weighed down by geopolitical risks, the market is expected to continue testing Bitcoin’s position as a long-term independent asset, alongside innovative expansion efforts in intellectual property (IP) ecosystems such as Pudgy Penguins.
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