Bitcoin (BTC) Holds Near $78K as US Airstrikes on Iran Drive Global Bond Selloff

KOSPI Leads Asian Equity Selloff

South Korea's KOSPI index fell more than 3% in Wednesday trading, leading a broad retreat across Asian markets after renewed US airstrikes on Iran pushed crude oil to a five-week high and set off a global bond selloff. The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index, a broad gauge of equities outside Japan, lost 1.5%, while the Nikkei 225 slid 2.6%. The KOSPI's decline, visible on the KOSPI chart, extended weeks of pressure on Asian technology and chip stocks into a full regional equity rout.

Brent crude climbed 1.3% to $95.91 a barrel on Wednesday, building on a rally that began after the United States launched fresh airstrikes on Iran on Tuesday. The attack briefly lifted oil to its highest level in five weeks and revived fears of disruption to the Strait of Hormuz, the maritime chokepoint that carries a large share of the world's crude exports. Analysts at Westpac noted that the threat of further Hormuz disruptions has renewed inflation anxiety, driving equity selling across most major markets and a rout in global bond markets. Rates moved hard: the US 10-year Treasury yield touched an intraday high of 4.8122%, its strongest level in almost three years, while Japan's five-year government bond yield climbed to 2.295%, a record. Wall Street had already weakened overnight, with the S&P 500 down 0.7% and the Nasdaq Composite down 1%. Analysts at DBS added that if the bond rout fails to stabilize, policymakers may need more aggressive measures to cap yields.

Crypto Slips With Risk Sentiment

Crypto assets moved in lockstep with the risk retreat. Market data shows Bitcoin (BTC) dipped to $77,000 during Wednesday's session before stabilizing near $77,700 at the time of writing, while Ethereum (ETH) fell to $2,410.73 and later held just above $2,420. The drawdown extended weeks of pressure in which climbing bond yields have weighed hardest on long-duration risk — Asian technology and chip shares first, then global equities, then digital assets. For traders, the session underlined how directly the widening Iran conflict now transmits into crypto pricing, with Bitcoin trading less like an uncorrelated hedge and more like a high-beta proxy for the Nasdaq.

Rates expectations are doing much of the damage. Futures pricing on CME Group's FedWatch tool, which estimates policy odds from fed funds futures, now assigns a 67% probability to a Federal Reserve rate hike at the two-day meeting ending September 16 — up sharply from 39.6% just a week earlier. A repricing that fast tends to flush leveraged positions across both markets, leaving late entrants as exit liquidity as volatility widens. Some investors rotate toward hard-asset alternatives such as silver when real yields climb, while flows in dollar-pegged tokens — stablecoins such as Circle's USDC — are closely watched as a gauge of risk appetite during macro shocks. With two weeks until the Fed decision and yields still climbing, desks describe the stretch ahead as one of the most volatile of the quarter, with oil, Treasury yields and Bitcoin all keyed to headlines from the Gulf. Readers tracking the market in real time can follow live spot and futures prices on Bybit.

Greed at 63 Meets a Hawkish September

COINOTAG's aggregate market data frames the tension: our Fear & Greed Index reads 63, still in Greed territory, while Bitcoin accounts for 69.0% of the $2.26 trillion tracked market cap. The selloff is now testing whether that greed-fueled positioning — and the broader bull market narrative — survives a hawkish September.