The cryptocurrency market saw a decline during trading on Thursday, as oil prices rebounded above $100 a barrel, amid investors monitoring developments in the Middle East war and its potential impact on global markets.
Bitcoin, the world’s most popular and largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, fell 1.76% to around $69,432, after approaching the $70,000 level, which is a psychologically important level in market trading.
Ethereum, the world's second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, also fell by 2.17% to around $2,029.83. Meanwhile, Ripple declined by approximately 1.34% to $1.3726.
Analysts believe these declines reflect the cautious state of affairs prevailing in financial markets amid geopolitical tensions and rising energy prices, as investors typically tend to reduce risk and temporarily move away from highly volatile assets.
In this context, analyst Rachel Lucas at BTC Markets predicted that Bitcoin would see some profit-taking as it reached the $70,000 level.
But she explained in comments reported by Bloomberg that instability in the global economy, along with volatile oil prices and geopolitical uncertainty, may keep investor sentiment cautious in the near term.
