Bitcoin was trading around $68,316 on Monday morning Asia time, representing an increase of about 1.5% over the past 24 hours and a decline of approximately 6% on the week. Gold dropped for a ninth straight day to around $4,360, marking roughly an 18% fall from its recent highs and extending a multiweek downtrend recorded through the same Monday morning Asia-time session.
In recent market activity, several major cryptocurrencies exhibited notable price movements. Ether saw an increase of 2.7%, bringing its value to $2,059. XRP also experienced a positive change, gaining 2% to reach $1.38. Tron climbed 0.3% to $0.309 and exhibited a weekly rise of 3.8%. Meanwhile, some cryptocurrencies declined; BNB fell 1.2%, with its price settling at $627, and Solana dropped 2.5% to $86.54. Dogecoin sustained a decrease, losing 1.7% to $0.09, accumulating a 7.4% weekly decline. In the commodities market, Brent crude oil showed a positive trend, edging up to $113 a barrel, representing an increase of more than 70% year-to-date.
A 48-hour ultimatum issued on Saturday by Trump called for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and warned that U.S. forces would “hit and obliterate” Iran’s power plants if the waterway was not reopened; the ultimatum was due to expire Monday evening. Iran responded that any such attack would trigger an indefinite closure of the waterway and retaliatory strikes on U.S. and Israeli energy infrastructure across the region. Both the ultimatum and Iran’s response were reported over the weekend.
Energy markets reflected the tensions, with Brent crude edging up to $113 a barrel and showing a year-to-date increase of more than 70%. Goldman Sachs raised its full-year Brent forecast to $85 from $77 and its WTI forecast to $79 from $72, describing the Hormuz disruption as the “largest-ever supply shock for global crude markets.” Those forecast changes represented increases from the prior levels cited.
The developments centered on the Strait of Hormuz and a 48-hour deadline that expired Monday evening. Energy markets recorded price increases and upward forecast revisions. Goldman Sachs revised its price forecasts upward.
The Resolv stablecoin (USR) crashed 70% after an attacker extracted $25 million in ETH from the protocol in the exploit that precipitated the price collapse. Following the exploit, the protocol’s balance sheet shows $95 million in assets against $173 million in liabilities, leaving a gap between assets and obligations. The reported asset and liability totals render the protocol functionally insolvent according to the figures provided. USR is trading at $0.27 and has declined 72% over the past week.
Alexander Blume, CEO of Two Prime, said “The gold rally and the BTC collapse are more structural than market-based.”
He said further that “China and others have been systematically buying gold as part of a broader effort to decouple from Western markets and the US dollar.”
Blume also cited the prospect of “an increase in funding and futures rates in the weeks and months to come,” framing that development as an expected contrarian market signal.
Bitcoin continued to trade near elevated levels, recording short-term gains while remaining lower over the week relative to earlier levels. The asset has held above a recent support area despite intraweek volatility and intermittent buying interest. Gold has been in a sustained downtrend, retreating from recent highs across multiple sessions and extending losses over consecutive trading days. The divergent moves in these two markets reflected contrasting price behavior within the same trading period.
