Bitcoin rises amid renewed Middle East de-escalation hopes

While the world’s largest crypto did rise as high as $75,000 in the month, it swiftly settled back into a trading range seen through most of the year

Bitcoin ticked higher on Tuesday, swept up in a boost to risk assets from a renewed bout of Middle East de-escalation hopes. The world’s largest crypto was also headed for an advance in March and was set to snap a five-month losing streak.

At 22:04 GMT, Bitcoin added 2.1% to $68,197.3.

Bitcoin was set for a modest gain in March. While the world’s largest crypto did rise as high as $75,000 in the month, it swiftly settled back into a trading range seen through most of the year.

The cryptocurrency did fare better than gold in March, as gold logged its worst monthly performance in almost two decades. But gold was still higher for the year, while Bitcoin was down nearly 22% YTD.

Altcoins were mixed in March. World no. 2 crypto Ether was set to add almost 7% in March and was on track to snap a six-month losing streak.

XRP was down 2.8% for the month, while Solana was set to lose nearly 2%. Cardano was the worst performer among major cryptos and was headed for a more than 14% loss.

Elsewhere, Google researchers said that advances in quantum computing could crack the encryption standards protecting cryptocurrencies and other digital infrastructure sooner than previously expected, with future quantum machines potentially needing fewer computational resources than earlier research had suggested to break widely used cryptographic systems.

The team said on Tuesday that future quantum computers may be able to break elliptic curve cryptography — a cornerstone of modern digital security — using fewer qubits and computational steps than earlier estimates suggested.

We want to raise awareness on this issue and are providing the cryptocurrency community with recommendations to improve security and stability before this is possible, including transitioning blockchains to post-quantum cryptography (PQC), which is resistant to quantum attacks, the researchers said in a blog post.