Bitcoin pared earlier losses Thursday afternoon after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would extend a pause in strikes against Iran’s energy infrastructure.
In a Truth Social post, Trump said the pause will now be 10 days, citing ongoing diplomatic negotiations.
“At the request of the Iranian government … I am pausing the period of destruction of energy facilities for 10 days,” Trump wrote, adding that “negotiations are underway” and “they are going very well.”
The news helped stabilize markets after an ugly Thursday that saw bitcoin fall 3% and the Nasdaq 2.4%, with the tech-heavy index now down about 10% since its peak for the year in late January.
The rise in oil prices since the outbreak of hostilities has grabbed most of the headlines, but the sell-off in Western bond markets is becoming more difficult.
The US 10-year Treasury yield – below 4% just weeks ago – jumped as high as 4.43% on Thursday before retreating to the current 4.41%. Alongside the sharp rise has been not only the disappearance of expectations for the Federal Reserve’s interest rate cuts, but also serious bids that the US central bank will soon raise interest rates.
Similar movements in bond yields and central bank expectations are also taking place across Western Europe.
Nevertheless, the Trump comments sent bitcoin higher by about 1% from its worst levels, and it is now trading just above $69,000. Ether (ETH), XRP (XRP), Solana (SOL) and all also rebounded from session lows, although they remained 3%-5% lower over the past 24 hours.
