Bitcoin steady above $64,000 despite Middle East tensions

The cryptocurrency was trading marginally up by 0.02 per cent at $64,188

Bitcoin traded little changed above $64,000 on Sunday, proving resilient to geopolitical uncertainty.

The cryptocurrency was trading marginally up by 0.02 per cent at $64,188 as of 17:09 GMT after the U.S. president said that Strait of Hormuz is opened while Iran claimed closure of the critical shipping route.

Unlike previous Middle East flare-ups, crypto markets showed little sign of panic. With traditional financial markets closed for the weekend, Bitcoin was effectively the only major liquid asset available to price geopolitical developments. Investors are now watching the reopening of oil markets to see whether crude prices reflect the latest tensions.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s developer community remains divided over BIP-110, a proposal that would temporarily restrict non-financial data stored on the blockchain. The proposal faces an early August deadline but has attracted virtually no support from major mining pools, with miner backing remaining below 1 per cent.

Prominent Bitcoin advocates, including Strategy Executive Chairman Michael Saylor and Blockstream co-founder Adam Back, have warned that changing Bitcoin’s consensus rules to address blockchain “spam” could create greater long-term risks than the issue itself.

Current signalling suggests the proposal is unlikely to secure enough support to activate.

Separately, Singapore highlighted growing cooperation between regulators and the crypto industry after police and seven cryptocurrency exchanges, including Coinbase, helped prevent more than $4.2 million in potential scam losses during a six-week operation.

Authorities used blockchain analytics to identify more than 145 potential victims before transfers were completed, underscoring the increasing role of public-private partnerships in strengthening trust across the digital asset ecosystem.