Iran missile threat against Israel rattles markets; Coinbase, bitcoin mining stocks sell off

Iran potentially launching a missile attack on Israel shook markets on Tuesday, causing top cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum to decline alongside shares in Coinbase and BTC miners like Marathon Digital.

On Tuesday, a U.S. official said Iran was planning an "imminent" missile attack in response to Israel launching a ground offensive in Lebanon, according to several news outlets . Shortly after, the Israeli military said Iran had launched missiles .

“The United States has indications that Iran is preparing to imminently launch a ballistic missile attack against Israel. We are actively supporting defensive preparations to defend Israel against this attack. A direct military attack from Iran against Israel will carry severe consequences for Iran,” said a senior White House official, according to CNN.

Increased tensions and a widening of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East would likely not bode well for the global economy and could adversely affect the price of crypto moving forward.

Among Bitcoin miners, Marathon Digital (ticker MARA) was hit the hardest with its shares dropping by as much as 9% to $14.84 before recovering slightly, according to Yahoo Finance. CleanSpark (CLSK) fell by nearly 6% while both Core Scientific (CORZ) and Riot Platforms (RIOT) dropped by about 4%. Coinbase, the top U.S. cryptocurrency exchange, saw its shares drop by about 8% on Tuesday.

While both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 initially fell on the news of the impending attack, both recovered slightly and then held firm even after Iran appeared to fire missiles at Israel.

The price of bitcoin and ether have fallen by nearly 1.5% and 3%, respectively, in the past hour, according to The Block Price Page . Solana was also down about 4%.