Bitcoin slides below $68,500 as Trump extends Iran deadline but war risks persist

Every major is red on the day as the war enters its fifth week with no resolution, though ETF inflows of $2.5 billion over the past month and net exchange outflows suggest institutional accumulation beneath the surface.

What to know:

• Bitcoin slid about 3% to roughly $68,500 as another cycle of mixed Iran war headlines whipsawed markets for the fifth straight week.
• Major cryptocurrencies broadly declined alongside Asian equities, though Tron bucked the trend, while the overall crypto market cap still hovers above its 50-day moving average, which some analysts view as a bullish sign.
• Despite the price weakness, bitcoin ETFs have seen about $2.5 billion in net inflows over the past month, with BlackRock reporting that institutional investors are concentrating in bitcoin and ether ahead of an early April deadline on Iran-related developments.

Bitcoin fell to $68,507 on Friday morning, down 3.2% over the past 24 hours and 2.7% on the week, after a familiar pattern played out for the fifth consecutive week: a de-escalation headline followed immediately by an escalation headline.

U.S. president Donald Trump extended his deadline for Iran to reach a ceasefire deal by 10 days and said talks were going "very well." Brent crude dipped 1.3% to $106. Then the Wall Street Journal reported the Pentagon is looking at sending up to 10,000 additional ground troops to the Middle East, and whatever relief had built evaporated.

The broader crypto market shed nearly 1% to a total cap of $2.4 trillion. Ether dropped 4.6% to $2,050, back below the level it's been fighting to hold all month. Solana fell 5.3% to $85.93. XRP lost 2.8% to $1.36, now down 6.5% on the week. BNB slid 2.3% to $626. Dogecoin dropped 2.8% to $0.091. Tron was the only major in the green at 1.2% daily and 2.4% weekly.

Asian equities fell 0.6% on Friday after Wall Street hit its lowest level since September on Thursday. South Korean tech stocks led losses, with Samsung and SK Hynix dragging the KOSPI down 2.3%. Taiwan dropped 1.2%. The war's fifth week is producing the same pattern as the first four, where headline-driven whipsaws that leave everyone stopped out and the underlying trend unresolved.

FxPro chief market analyst Alex Kuptsikevich noted that the crypto market cap is approaching its 50-day moving average but still holding above it, which he called "a bullish sign."

The market "must make an early decision," he said, "either break through the uptrend line from early February or confirm the 50-day MA as support and break the downtrend."

The institutional data beneath the price action tells a different story from the daily selloff.

Bitcoin ETFs have attracted $2.5 billion over the past month, according to Bloomberg, offsetting nearly all the outflows that had been ongoing since January. BlackRock's bitcoin ETF has ranked among the top 2% of all ETFs by inflows year-to-date. Net bitcoin outflows from exchanges last month signaled a shift toward accumulation, with investors buying coins and withdrawing them to self-custody.

BlackRock itself offered a notable framing this week, saying that large investors are concentrating in bitcoin and ether while shunning the broader altcoin market.

The 10-day extension on the Iran deadline pushes the next binary event to early April.

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