Bitcoin rises 3% as risk sentiment gets a boost

It had dropped $59,000 last week amid a prolonged rout in crypto markets

Bitcoin rose on Thursday, as risk sentiment got a boost after the U.S. president said a deal had been reached with Iran and the final document could be signed soon, perhaps even over the weekend.

Meanwhile, there was an uptick in institutional investors pulling out of cryptocurrencies a day ahead of SpaceX’s market debut.

Crypto market participants also parsed key U.S. producer inflation data that kept expectations of the local central bank interest rate hikes in play.

The crypto was last up 3% to $63,450.18 at 21:44 GMT. It had dropped $59,000 last week amid a prolonged rout in crypto markets.

Middle East developments were firmly in the spotlight on Thursday. A roller-coaster session saw a flurry of headlines starting with initial media reports about continued peace talks between Tehran and Washington. Risk sentiment then took a hit while safe haven demand was boosted after the U.S. president threatened more attacks, but those moves were sharply reversed after the president retreated and said a deal had been reached.

Traders heaved a sigh of relief after he retreated, as tensions between Iran and U.S. had rapidly risen this week amid retaliatory strikes from both warring parties.

Other risky assets such as U.S. equities soared on the news, while oil prices declined.

Away from the Middle East, institutional investors continued to pull out of exchange-traded funds, with outflows intensifying on Wednesday after briefly cooling earlier in the week.

Investors pulled out $213.85 million from spot ETFs on Wednesday, data from SoSoValue showed. The outflows deepened from a $77.4 million outflow on Tuesday, and came after more than $5 billion of outflows in the past three weeks.

The outflows were chalked up to investors freeing up cash for SpaceX’s IPO on Friday. The company on Thursday confirmed the IPO price at $135/share, raising $75 billion and targeting a valuation of $1.75 trillion.