The value of Bitcoin as well as the Iranian currency, the rial, both plummeted in light of the attack on Israel on Saturday. The rial hit a record low against the US dollar, with a ratio of 705,000 rials to USD on the market around 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, while the Iranian government had set an official exchange rate of 42,000 rials to USD in 2018.
As Valuetainment previously reported, Israel was attacked by Iran in retaliation for its airstrike on a consulate in Syria, which eliminated two Iranian generals. An estimated 99 percent of Iran’s drones and missiles were intercepted by the Jewish state. Israel has vowed to attack Iran in response, despite US President Joe Biden’s pleading against them doing so. “You got a win. Take the win,” Biden reportedly told Netanyahu, according to a senior White House official.
The Iranian rial is already suffering from extreme inflation due to US sanctions imposed during the Trump administration. Those sanctions have curbed the sale of Iran’s core commodities, being crude oil and related products.
As of Tuesday at 9:45 am EST, Bitcoin had plummeted to $62,380. It had suffered a 7 percent decrease (to $62,570) on Saturday afternoon, at the time of the attack. Bitcoin had hovered around $70,500 on Friday. The price of Ethereum decline 9 percent to $2,923.
Bitcoin had reached $73,200 on March 13th, setting a new record for the blockchain currency.
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US crude oil futures experienced a slight decline on Monday, which is a sign that investors believe the conflict will not spiral out of control. Oil prices would risen if the Iranian attack was successful, CNBC claims.
A writer for the Wall Street Journal said Israel owed its counteroffensive win to Western and Arab allies. US, British, and Jordanian air forces shot down the majority of Iran’s drones before they reached Israel. This raises the question, argues the author, of whether Israel would be able to hold its weight in a full-scale war with surprise attacks—which Saturday manifestly was not, as Iran issued a warning before it sent its fleet.
Shane Devine is a writer covering politics and business for VT and a regular guest on The Unusual Suspects. Follow Shane’s work here.
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