Though many crypto buyers flee to bitcoin (BTC) as a secure haven, it hasn’t carried out significantly effectively throughout instances of conflict. Contemplate its underperformance towards different tech investments through the onset of a battle.
Regardless of US President Donald Trump’s 53 assurances that the Russia-Ukraine conflict would finish “on day one,” that battle continues.
Worse, a brand new conflict simply began in Iran, giving us a latest instance towards which to investigate BTC as an ostensible secure haven asset.
BTC typically correlates with the NASDAQ-100 index, the biggest proxy for the tech trade. Nonetheless, many army headlines have pushed BTC to decouple from the NASDAQ to the draw back.
On Monday, for instance, Trump stunned the world with a sudden publish to TruthSocial asking everybody in Tehran to evacuate instantly. That plea, made at 6:30pm New York time to a metro space of over 15 million folks, instantly tanked NASDAQ-100 constituents in after-hours buying and selling.
The NASDAQ 100-tracking QQQ ETF, which had been buying and selling north of $533.70 previous to the announcement, traded 0.15% decrease inside two minutes and 0.6% decrease inside 90 minutes.
These percentages aren’t to be mistaken as insignificant. For an index as massive because the NASDAQ — which itself is tied to the biggest financial system on the earth — a lack of 0.6% displays a lack of roughly $300 billion in US public market capitalization.
BTC, nonetheless, fared far worse throughout the identical interval.
Previous to Trump’s announcement, BTC was buying and selling above $108,700. Inside 90 minutes, it had declined 1.8%.
Certainly, BTC fell 3X additional than the NASDAQ inside 90 minutes of battle breaking out.
BTC is a digital asset, however it’s not digital gold particularly when cash flocks to secure haven property.
Israel strikes Iran, Gold rallies, BTC sells off.
Nothing towards BTC, simply noting it’s not a secure haven like so many wish to consider. It’s a speculative asset…… pic.twitter.com/67l9iT7p4T
— Novacula Occami (@OccamiCrypto) June 13, 2025
BTC doesn’t appear to be a secure haven
The identical impact of BTC decoupling from the NASDAQ throughout wartime headlines occurred on the onset of the Russia-Ukraine battle.
Late on the night of February 23, 2022, Vladimir Putin introduced a “special military operation” towards Ukraine that, like Trump’s TruthSocial publish this week, marked the de facto graduation of conflict.
By the NASDAQ 100’s 9:30am open of buying and selling on February 24, 2022, the index had crashed a staggering 3.2%.
BTC, nonetheless, carried out even worse than this spectacular incineration of over $1 trillion in US public market capitalization. By the morning of February 24, BTC had fallen over 10% beneath its excessive of yesterday.
But once more, the episode illustrates BTC underperforming the NASDAQ by a 3X multiplier.
Extra examples of BTC failing to buoy buyers searching for a secure haven are plentiful. From the India-Pakistan disaster earlier this yr to way back to late-2010s incidents of army strikes within the South China Sea, BTC hasn’t carried out successfully as a hedge.
As an alternative, BTC has typically mirrored and even amplified the strikes of risk-on property throughout wartime crises.
