bitcoin rose above $71,500 on Friday, outperforming U.S. stocks even as the dollar strengthened and oil prices remained elevated as the war with Iran entered its third week.
A stronger dollar can tighten global financial conditions and often weighs on risk assets such as stocks and cryptocurrencies. Higher oil prices (both Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude are around $100 per barrel) reinforce concerns about inflation and raise expectations of interest rate increases. Higher rates also make such investments less attractive.
Despite these macro and geopolitical pressures, including the Middle East conflict, bitcoin has remained resilient and is among the best-performing macro assets since the war began on March 1. Historically, on Fridays during this period the largest cryptocurrency has fallen around 3%, a pattern that has not been repeated until now.
The dollar index (DXY), which measures the strength of the US currency against a basket of major world currencies, surpassed 100 for the first time since late November. US Treasury yields are also rising, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year bond exceeding 4.2%, reflecting tighter financial conditions and higher borrowing costs.
Meanwhile, the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ), an exchange-traded fund that tracks the Nasdaq 100 index, has barely changed recently.
In crypto-linked stocks, Strategy (MSTR), the largest publicly traded corporate holder of bitcoin, added 1% ahead of the start of official trading. The company acquired approximately 11,000 BTC this week using proceeds from its preferred perpetual security Stretch (STRC).
Today marks the ex-dividend date for STRC, meaning it has fallen slightly below its face value of $100 to around $99.50.
Meanwhile, AI-repurposed bitcoin miners like IREN (IREN) and Cipher Digital (CIFR) opened slightly lower, while cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase (COIN) added around 2%.
