By Alex Kozul-Wright

The price of Bitcoin was up early Tuesday, as Monday's relief rally -- triggered by President Donald Trump's decision to delay strikes against Iran's key infrastructure -- maintained its momentum.

Digital asset prices got a boost even as benchmark oil futures rose early in the session. Since the outbreak of war in Iran, energy price surges have generally hit risk assets owing to the market strains associated with stagflation, in which economies face both high inflation and low growth.

But the world's biggest cryptocurrency rose 3.2% over the past 24 hours to $70,489 early Tuesday, according to CoinDesk data. Ethereum and popular alt-coin XRP also posted gains -- by 4.9% and 3.2%, respectively. Digital assets may have benefited from widening geopolitical tensions.

Saudi Arabia decided to allow U.S. forces to use King Fahd air base, according to The Wall Street Journal, marking a shift from its earlier stance that Saudi facilities would not be used in the war with Iran. The United Arab Emirates has also taken steps to undermine Tehran.

Still, major future indexes appeared to shake off the news. In premarket trading, the S&P 500 futures index flipped from red to green as did Nasdaq 100 and Dow futures.

The upshot is that broad market volatility could well prevent a decisive price move in one direction or the other for cryptocurrencies.

Write to Alex Kozul-Wright at alexander.kozul-wright@barrons.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

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March 24, 2026 05:11 ET (09:11 GMT)

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