War is at hand! War alarms are ringing across the world once again. On February 28, 2026, both the United States and Israel launched airstrikes on Iranian territory. Iranian forces responded with counterattacks against American targets in the Middle East.
Additionally, journalistic sources said the Iranian regime would have closed the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic point for the oil industry between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.
All this is causing havoc in the market. As reported by CriptoNoticias this morning, the price of Bitcoin has fallen below $64,000. Regardless, it has partially recovered and is trading at $65,419 as of this writing.
In scenarios of heightened geopolitical tensions, such as the current Middle East conflict, There is usually a defensive move on the part of investors.. In this situation, Bitcoin is considered a risky asset by a large part of the market, which is why it tends to be sold off.
In order, Capital tends to be redeployed to instruments that are perceived to be saferincluding cash or U.S. Treasury securities. This rotation to traditional havens helps explain the decline in BTC price in the hours following the military escalation.
However, not all assets were damaged. In the cryptocurrency space, gold-backed tokens, including Tether Gold (xAUT) and Pax Gold (PAXG), stablecoins that track the price of the metal per ounce, rose at an accelerated pace along with the price of the underlying asset.
The following graph shows xAUT trends over the past 7 days as an example. Over this period, xAUT rose 4.3% to $5,428.
In this context, Gold is once again gaining attention as a safe-haven asset. In times of war or global uncertainty, many investors stop prioritizing profitability and focus on preserving capital.
Precious metals are typically part of this defensive trend due to their history as stores of value, liquidity, and little exposure to issuer political or credit risk. Searching for such coverage helps explain why both the price of gold and the tokens backed by the metal rise in the face of geopolitical escalation such as the current one.
And another asset that is on the rise is oil.. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz evokes the following feelings: The global distribution of this valuable raw material could be at risk.
As seen in the following graph from the Investing platform, crude oil futures are trading at $67.02, a price not seen since July 2025.
This episode once again left an unpleasant lesson for Bitcoin. When the noise of the missiles drowns out everything else, Stories are replaced by the instinct of economic survival. (at least at first).
In such times, capital rewards immediate safety rather than future promise. So while BTC retreats and gold, its tokenized version and crude oil heat up, What emerges is the market’s most basic response to a threat. First of all, protect yourself. Then, if anything, think again about the long term.