Start now →

Bitcoin and other cryptos fall as U.S., Iranian negotiators fail to reach war resolution

By Nikhilesh De · Published April 12, 2026 · 4 min read · Source: CoinDesk
Bitcoin
MarketsShare this articleX (Twitter)LinkedInFacebookEmail

Bitcoin and other cryptos fall as U.S., Iranian negotiators fail to reach war resolution

U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance said negotiations had ended after a daylong session in Pakistan, sending crypto prices down between 1.5% and 2%.

By Nikhilesh DeUpdated Apr 12, 2026, 2:46 a.m. Published Apr 12, 2026, 2:05 a.m. Make preferred on
(CoinDesk)
(CoinDesk)

Bitcoin BTC$71,822.62 and other major cryptocurrencies all fell around 2% late Saturday evening U.S. hours after Vice President J.D. Vance announced that U.S. and Iranian negotiators had failed to agree to an extended ceasefire.

The parties met in Pakistan Saturday to negotiate an agreement after the U.S.'s nearly six-week long campaign against Iran. Vance said at a press conference afterward that the U.S. had "not reached an agreement."

Bitcoin traded hands around $71,600 as of press time, while ether (ETH) fell to about $2,200. XRP slid to $1.33, and the broader CoinDesk 20 index similarly fell to 1,188.52 — each of these prices fell just under 2% in the immediate aftermath of Vance's press conference.

"We've made very clear what our red lines are, what things we are willing to accommodate them on and what we're not willing to accommodate them on, and we've made that as clear as we possibly could," he said.

Sticking points included the U.S.'s insistence that Iran would "not seek a nuclear weapon and they will not seek the tools that would enable them to quickly achieve a nuclear weapon," Vance said in response to a press question.

Esmaeil Baqaei, the spokesperson for Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that "numerous messages and texts have been exchanged."

"In the past 24 hours, discussions were held on various dimensions of the main negotiation topics, including the Strait of Hormuz, the nuclear issue, war reparations, lifting of sanctions, and the complete end to the war against Iran and in the region," he said.

UPDATE (April 12, 2026, 02:46 UTC): Adds Iranian official's post.

Breaking News

More For You

Encryption Supremacy: Zcash and Privacy in the Age of Scale

By CoinDesk ResearchMar 31, 2026  logoCommissioned byGenZcash
Encryption Supremacy - Zcash and Privacy in the Age of Scale

Most crypto privacy models weaken as blockchain data grows. Encryption-based models like Zcash strengthen. CoinDesk Research maps the five privacy approaches and examines the widening gap.

Why it matters:

As blockchain adoption scales, the metadata available to machine learning models scales with it. Obfuscation-based privacy approaches are structurally degrading as a result. This report provides a comprehensive comparison of all five major crypto privacy architectures and a framework for evaluating which models remain durable as AI capabilities improve.

View Full Report

More For You

Musk’s SpaceX holds $603 million in bitcoin despite $5 billion loss stemming from xAI

By Shaurya Malwa7 hours ago
SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk

Arkham data shows 8,285 BTC in Coinbase Prime custody as the company swings from $8 billion profit to nearly $5 billion loss ahead of its IPO push.

What to know:

Read full storyLatest Crypto News SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk

Musk’s SpaceX holds $603 million in bitcoin despite $5 billion loss stemming from xAI

7 hours ago
CoinDesk

Bitcoin signals potential seller exhaustion as realized losses decline

9 hours ago
CoinDesk

The crypto honeymoon is over for now as analysts warn of a major first-quarter profit squeeze

10 hours ago
Stacks of 100 dollar bills (Dmytro Glazunov/Unsplash/Modified by CoinDesk)

$1.6 billion Ether Machine SPAC deal collapses over unfavorable market

10 hours ago
CoinDesk

Bitcoin, broader market flat as U.S.-Iran negotiations begin

10 hours ago
Skyline of the Iranian capital, Tehran

Iran war oil-price shock revives inflation trade and a new stablecoin play

11 hours ago
Top StoriesBhutan (Sittichok Glomvinya/Pixabay)

Bhutan has sold 70% of its bitcoin in 18 months. It may have stopped BTC mining too.

Apr 11, 2026
Ron Hammond (Nikhilesh De/CoinDesk)

Crypto Clarity bill has 30% chance of passing this year, Wintermute’s Hammond says

13 hours ago
CFTC Chair Michael Selig

Federal judge blocks Arizona from bringing criminal charges against Kalshi

Apr 10, 2026
Price chart on a mobile phone lying next to laptop (Aidan Hancock/Unsplash)

Crypto perpetuals predict the direction of Wall Street’s Monday open with 89% accuracy, data shows

12 hours ago
World Liberty Forum at Mar-a-Lago. (WLFI)

Trump-backed WLFI token drops 12% to record lows after team defends multi-million lending position

Apr 10, 2026
Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan (CoinDesk Archives)

Bitwise files updated S-1 for Hyperliquid ETF as HYPE fund race heats up

13 hours ago

In this article

BTCBTCBTC$71,822.621.59%
This article was originally published on CoinDesk and is republished here under RSS syndication for informational purposes. All rights and intellectual property remain with the original author. If you are the author and wish to have this article removed, please contact us at [email protected].

NexaPay — Accept Card Payments, Receive Crypto

No KYC · Instant Settlement · Visa, Mastercard, Apple Pay, Google Pay

Get Started →