Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency by market capitalization, rose more than 4% to $74,473, its highest level since February 4, before giving back some of its gains. Nevertheless, Bitcoin is still down about 40% from its all-time high reached last October.
Meanwhile, other smaller, more volatile digital assets saw even more significant gains. Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency, rose as much as 8% to $2,302, roughly twice the increase of Bitcoin; Solana and XRP also rose as much as 7% during the session.
Since the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq War in late February, Bitcoin has outperformed many traditional assets in this geopolitical conflict. Data shows that gold has fallen by about 5% this month, while Bitcoin has risen by more than 12%.
On Monday, U.S. stocks rose as markets anticipated more oil tankers would be able to transit the Strait of Hormuz and negotiations to secure the waterway continued, while oil prices retreated from their intraday gains.
Orbit Markets co-founder Caroline Mauron stated, "Despite ongoing geopolitical uncertainty, the cryptocurrency market has maintained a generally strong sentiment over the past week. A Bitcoin breakout above $75,000 now seems highly likely, as both retail and strategic buyers believe the worst of this cryptocurrency pullback is over."
The $75,000 mark becomes crucial, and the battle between bulls and bears intensifies.
According to data from blockchain data company Glassnode, market makers appear to have structural put option short positions at the $75,000 level.
Glassnode notes: "As spot prices approach this level, hedging flows may intensify, further amplifying upward price volatility."
However, some analysts have warned that as Bitcoin approaches $75,000, the bears may regain the upper hand.
FxPro's chief market analyst, Alex Kuptsikevich, said: "Around $75,000, the bears are likely to regain control, keeping Bitcoin in a corrective rebound pattern after the previous decline. From a cross-market analysis perspective, the bears have more reasons to react, but Bitcoin tends to lead overall market fluctuations and is the first to reflect changes in underlying sentiment."
ETFs continue to attract funds, indicating a strengthening of institutional confidence.
Continued inflows into exchange-traded funds (ETFs) indicate a recovery in institutional investor confidence. Data shows that 12 U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs saw net inflows of over $763 million last week, marking the third consecutive week of net inflows.
Since the beginning of March, these ETFs have seen a cumulative net inflow of $1.3 billion.
BTC Markets analyst Rachael Lucas said, "Of these, BlackRock's IBIT accounted for about 78% of these inflows. This highly concentrated inflow is more like conviction-based allocation buying than speculative rotation."
Michael Saylor made another large purchase, and Bitcoin-related stocks rallied in tandem.
On Monday, Strategy Inc., owned by "Bitcoin godfather" Michael Saylor, announced that it had purchased nearly $1.6 billion worth of Bitcoin the previous week. This is the company's largest Bitcoin purchase since January.
The average purchase price of these Bitcoins was approximately $70,000, significantly lower than current market trading levels. This transaction also reduced Strategy's average cost per coin to approximately $75,700 , a level of pressure that had been significantly reduced before Bitcoin's surge this month, when the company faced much larger unrealized losses.
Boosted by this news, Strategy's stock price rose by about 5%; other cryptocurrency-related stocks also rose in tandem. Coinbase Global rose 2.4%, and Riot Platforms rose by about 2%.
The company currently holds approximately 761,000 bitcoins, worth about $55.8 billion at the current market value, further solidifying its position as the world's largest corporate-grade bitcoin holder.
Strategy CEO Phong Le further disclosed the company's progress in increasing its holdings during the Q4 earnings call. He stated, "In 2025, we raised a total of $25.3 billion in capital to advance the company's Bitcoin reserve strategy, making us the largest issuer of stock among publicly traded companies in the United States for the second consecutive year. Our Bitcoin holdings have increased to 713,502, with an additional 41,002 Bitcoins purchased in January 2026 alone."
Moreover, this "fundraising-buying" machine shows no signs of slowing down. As of February 1, Strategy still had approximately $8.1 billion in available credit under its Common Stock ATM (market price offering) program and over $29 billion in available credit under its Preferred Stock ATM program.
The market also predicts that Strategy will continue to buy Bitcoin. Data shows that the market expects a 93.9% probability that Strategy will announce another Bitcoin purchase during the week of March 17-23, with an 89% probability that the purchase will exceed 1,000 Bitcoins.
This means that Strategy's Bitcoin "accumulation flywheel" is still running at high speed.
Is Bitcoin shifting from a speculative asset to a "macro hedging tool"?
Historically, Bitcoin has often been viewed as a high-risk speculative asset, but in the past two weeks, amid rising geopolitical pressures, it has behaved more like a macro hedging tool.
On Monday, crude oil prices gave back earlier gains as Bitcoin surged, following calls from US President Trump for international assistance in reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a key trade waterway.
BTSE Chief Operating Officer Jeff Mei also mentioned that Iran has stated that the Strait of Hormuz is only closed to "enemy" ships, meaning that the real threats may only be from American and Israeli vessels.
Mei stated, "If the market believes this conflict is nearing its end, Bitcoin could easily rebound quickly and head back towards $100,000; however, if the conflict appears to be dragging on, Bitcoin could fall back to around $60,000."
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