Bitcoin fell about 3% in the hours after US President Donald Trump crushed hopes of a swift resolution to the Iran conflict. In a speech to the nation on 1 Apr, Trump claimed that the US military had crippled Iran’s defences and would continue to attack the
middle eastern country over the next two to three weeks.
Bitcoin Stumbles After Trump Signals Prolonged Iran Conflict
2 April 2026 - 09:15 CEST
Iran conflict batters commodities
In February, the US started a military assault on Iran, which resulted in the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei. The conflict, which Trump earlier claimed would be resolved in a few days, is now into its fifth week. Global financial markets have been hard hit by the war, especially oil, as Iran is one of the leading oil producers in the world.
In response to the attack, Tehran closed the Strait of Hormuz, a key passage for ships passing through the Middle East. The conflict has also put global central banks on alert and caused them to re-evaluate their inflation and growth targets.
Crude oil prices pushed higher during and after the address, moving up from around $99.50 at 01:00UTC to as high as $108.40 by 06:35UTC (+9%). At 07:00UTC, buyers remained firmly in control, with Brent crude trading at around $107.90
Bitcoin fell from around $68,600 before the address to as low as $66,200 by 04:40UTC (-3.5%) before recovering slightly. At 07:00UTC, BTC was changing hands for around $66,700.
Drift exploit weighs on Solana
Earlier in the evening of 1 Apr, a major perpetual futures exchange on Solana suffered a significant exploit. Drift Protocol fell victim to a sophisticated attack, which led to $280mn worth of assets being drained from the firm's treasury.
The attackers used a combination of social engineering tricks and a chink in Solana's transactions system to walk away with hundreds of millions of dollars. DRIFT, the
exchanges' governance token, tanked more than 40% as news of the exploit spread across the internet, while Solana's SOL fell over 7% after the details of the attack emerged.
