Key Highlights:
- The tension between US-Iran shook global markets.
- According to Arthur Hayes, Bitcoin performed better than gold.
- Institutions are supporting Bitcoin even though the situations are tense.
The co-founder of BitMEX, Arthur Hayes, posted on social media platform X today, March 12, 2026 and talked about how global markets are shaken after tensions increased between the United States and Iran at the end of February 2026.
Usually when things go wrong, investors quickly switch to safe assets such as gold. But according to Arthur Hayes, something different has happened, and Bitcoin has emerged as one of the strongest performers.
$BTC (+7%, white) has outperformed Gold (-2%, gold) and the Nasdaq100 (-0.5%, green) since the US-Iran war started on Feb 28th. Realative to similar type large risky assets, $BTC did the best when viewed against oil & gas energy price spikes. pic.twitter.com/pO9JOzPbEb
— Arthur Hayes (@CryptoHayes) March 12, 2026
The conflict between the two countries started on February 28, Bitcoin has climbed roughly between 7%, while gold has actually fallen about 2%. At the same time, the Nasdaq 100, which represents major technology companies, has barely moved and is down around 0.5%
For many investors, this shift is surprising. Bitcoin usually drops sharply during global uncertainty. Now, it seems to be behaving more like a digital safe haven when geopolitical tensions rise.
Oil Shock Shakes Global Markets
The Strait of Hormuz is in danger which has affected the markets of all kinds. However, the price of Bitcoin was actually climbing, which was highlighted by Hayes today, in his X post. He pointed out Bitcoin’s behaviour during the crisis, and shows how it can decouple from traditional markets.
Hayes described Bitcoin as “digital gold with upside velocity,” suggesting the asset can not only protect value but also grow during global disruptions.
At the time of writing, the price of Bitcoin stands at $70,379.10 with an uptick of 1.5% in the last 24-hours as per CoinGecko.
Gold Fails to Deliver Its Usual Protection
For the longest time, gold has been considered as the ultimate safe haven. However, with the current situation, the price of gold is dipping. Right before all of these tensions came into picture, gold was trading close to $5,270 per ounce, but prices slowly dropped down to roughly $5,170 (as of March 12, 2026) in the following weeks.
Tech Stocks Face Pressure
Technology stocks are also feeling the pinch of the crisis. The leading technology companies like Apple and Nvidia have seen their stocks fall by as much as 2-3% ever since the crisis began.
The major cause of this fall is the concern that has been expressed over global supply chains. The increase in fuel prices could cause a hike in shipping charges. The semiconductor sector is more prone to this as it relies a lot on global shipping. Due to this instability, technology stocks are not able to perform as well as Bitcoin.
Institutional Demand boosts Bitcoin
One of the major reasons for the rise of Bitcoin is that more and more institutions are now demanding it. Investment companies are putting more and more funds into spot exchange-traded funds that are related to Bitcoin.
One such ETF by BlackRock has seen hundreds of millions of dollars invested in it. As per SoSoValue, as of March 11, 2026, the Bitcoin Spot ETF with the total net inflow of IBIT currently stands at $62.88 billion. Also, it has also been observed that long-term investors are still buying more Bitcoin instead of selling it during this time of crisis.
As the tension keeps on increasing between the United States and Iran, markets are clearly shifting gears. While gold and tech industry might be struggling, Bitcoin kept on climbing. As Arthur Hayes put it, the organge coin is starting look a lot like digital gold.
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