Bitcoin doesn’t budge on Israel-Iran war, for now: NoOnes CEO

Geopolitical tensions are escalating, but Bitcoin hasn’t seen major price action. NoOnes CEO Ray Youssef explains why.

Rising tensions in the Middle East are exposing a flaw in how some traders view Bitcoin (BTC). Instead of acting as a hedge, Bitcoin is behaving more like a tech stock, says Ray Youssef, CEO of NoOnes, a crypto peer-to-peer payments and trading platform.

Yossef also highlighted the $100 million breach of Nobitex, Iran’s biggest crypto exchange. The hack, likely performed by Predatory Sparrow, a hacking group with ties to Israel, would have sounded alarm bells earlier.

Escalating tensions are usually positive for hedge assets. However, Bitcoin’s reaction was muted, continuing to trade around $105,000. At the same time, Ethereum (ETH) also traded between $2,120 and $2,330, now for the seventh week in a row. This is despite significant whale inflows, amounting to 871,000 ETH over one week.

Bitcoin fails as a hedge asset for now: Yossef

Bitcoin’s lack of movement, according to Youssef, suggests that its hedge-asset narrative is losing traction in today’s market.

Still, Youssef notes that geopolitical risk is driving a shift within the broader crypto landscape. Bitcoin dominance is approaching 66%, as traders retreat from riskier altcoins. If global tensions continue to mount, this rotation into BTC could accelerate, especially if capital controls, sanctions, and infrastructure disruptions enter the mix.