Bitcoin rose on Tuesday, extending gains from the previous session as the prospect of de-escalation in the US-Israeli war on Iran helped boost risk-based assets.
But the cryptocurrency traded well below its intraday highs after Iran denied engaging in talks with the United States, while hostilities in the Middle East showed few signs of abating.
Bitcoin also received a boost from its largest institutional holder, Strategy&, which outlined plans to buy more of the cryptocurrency. The world's largest cryptocurrency rose 1.9% to $70,214.70 by 9:09 AM Saudi time.
Iran denies de-escalation talks with Washington
Senior Iranian officials have denied engaging in talks with the United States, contradicting President Donald Trump's statements about productive discussions with Tehran.
Hostilities between Iran and Israel showed few signs of abating on Tuesday amid reports of continued strikes between the two sides and other Gulf states.
However, media reports have shown that some Asian and Gulf states are relaying messages between the United States and Iran.
Conflicting signals about a war with Iran left markets uncertain about how the conflict would develop, with oil prices rebounding sharply on Tuesday.
Markets feared that a prolonged rise in oil prices would fuel global inflation, which in turn would lead to more aggressive monetary policy from central banks worldwide. Such a scenario does not bode well for non-yielding speculative assets like Bitcoin and gold.
But the world’s largest cryptocurrency has performed relatively better than gold since the start of the war with Iran, as the yellow metal has suffered deep losses due to profit-taking and the bursting of a speculative bubble.
Strategy reveals plan to raise $42 billion to buy more Bitcoin
Strategy Inc (NASDAQ:MSTR) on Monday unveiled a new $42 billion market equity program to raise capital and buy more Bitcoin.
The plan will be split between an offering of $21 billion in common stock and $21 billion in preferred stock, with an additional option to raise $2.10 billion through series preferred stock.
The company also revealed that it purchased 1,031 Bitcoins last week, bringing its total inventory to 762,099 coins.
Strategy is the largest institutional holder of Bitcoin, and its recent capital plans are expected to provide further buy signals for the cryptocurrency.
But the company has faced increasing scrutiny from investors in recent months regarding the long-term prospects of its Bitcoin buying strategy. The company's shares are down 12% so far in 2026.
Cryptocurrency prices today: Altcoins follow Bitcoin's gains
Prices of the broader cryptocurrencies rose significantly in tandem with Bitcoin, with the focus entirely on any de-escalation in the war with Iran.
The world's second-largest cryptocurrency, Ethereum, rose 2.9% to $2,129.90, while XRP climbed 1.5% to $1.4121.
Solana and Cardano rose by more than 3% each, while BNB lagged behind, down by 0.6%.
Among the meme coins, Dogecoin rose by 2.8% and $TRUMP added 1.5%.
