The Bitcoin price went into the near year staggering around the $7,500 mark. This has changed barely a week into the New Year with price retaking the $8,000 mark then pushing above the 200 day moving average for the first time since November. This strong move north has broken the long term BTC descending channel that has held since June in a move that has electrified markets. Bitcoin had seen significant gains then later ran into a range since October 26, when Chinese president Xi Jinping called for China to fast track the development and integration of Blockchain technology.
Yesterday saw the BTC price touch the $8,000 mark for the first time in a while. This has been explained by commentators to have been the result of the recent tensions between the USA and Iran. The assassination of Iran’s top military general Qassem Soleimani on January 2, through a precision drone strike precipitated the current ugly tensions between the two powers. Today has seen an even further push north to the region of $8,500 with news of a retaliation strike on US troops in Iraq. Reports have it that a dozen ballistic missiles were fired at two US bases in Iraq and at the time of writing, no casualties have been reported.
US president Donald Trump’s laid back press conference hours later where he announced the lack of casualties in the Iran response quelled tensions. He also interpreted the missed targets on the US airbases as Iran standing down. This not only led to a calming of tensions amid fears of an impending full blown conflict like the one in Iraq back in 2003, but also an easing of the Bitcoin price that had been flying north. Commentators in the crypto space have argued that Bitcoin’s breaching of the $8,000 mark had a lot to do with people using the asset as a hedge amid heightened uncertainty.
