Ether, Solana and XRP Tumble as Iran Strikes Spur Risk Selloff
Iranian strikes and the resulting escalation in geopolitical tensions triggered a broad retreat from risk assets, spilling into cryptocurrencies alongside traditional financial markets. Ether, Solana and XRP are typically more volatile than bitcoin and often behave as high-beta expressions of crypto sentiment, leaving them especially exposed when investors cut leverage and shift toward more defensive holdings.
Major cryptocurrencies fell across the board over the latest 24-hour period, with Solana, ether and XRP leading the decline. The pullback in those high-beta tokens was roughly three times bitcoin’s drop, underscoring how quickly the risk-off move spread through digital assets after the Iranian attacks and how aggressively traders reduced exposure to the market’s more volatile large-cap coins.
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The history behind this eventFresh US Strikes on Iran Spark Panic, Wiping $80 Billion From Crypto Market
The United States launched a fresh wave of airstrikes against Iranian military targets, while Trump said US forces would intensify their attacks, rapidly raising the risk of further escalation in the Middle East. Crypto assets have long been sensitive to global liquidity and risk-off sentiment, and the selloff reflected investors shifting toward relatively safer assets such as the US dollar.
After news of the airstrikes emerged on July 19, the crypto market lost about $80 billion within 24 hours, pushing its total market capitalization to its lowest level since mid-April. Bitcoin fell below $73,000, while Ether dropped below $1,970. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps later said it had launched airstrikes against US forces, further intensifying market panic.
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