Bitcoin and other digital assets were lower Friday as cryptocurrency traders assessed the next move for stock markets and risk sentiment.

Cryptos have had a good week despite the escalating Iran War. President Donald Trump pushing for the industry's Clarity Act--market structure legislation--to be passed gave Bitcoin and others a significant boost on Wednesday.

But cryptos have also held up robustly amid the Middle East conflict, which bodes well in the event of a prolonged war.

Bitcoin was trading at $71,002 early in the day, down 1.9% over the past 24 hours, according to CoinDesk data. The world's largest cryptocurrency, which initially slumped as low as $63,000 in the immediate aftermath of the first U.S. attacks on Iran, is up around 8% this week. Ethereum, the second-largest crypto, fell 1.8%, while popular altcoin XRP slipped 0.9% — both are still comfortably higher for the week.

The stock market's selloff Thursday likely explains digital assets' weakness over the past 24 hours. Futures are up early Friday but premarket action has often subsequently been superseded by geopolitical headlines this week--today could be a similar story.

There's also the February jobs report for investors to digest later in the day. The data are expected to show a stabilizing labor market, which would keep the Federal Reserve on track to hold interest rates steady in the months ahead.

Rate cuts tend to boost cryptocurrencies, making them appear more attractive relative to lower-yielding assets. But surging energy prices and a potential inflationary spike point to less chance of lower borrowing costs, regardless of how the employment figures come out.

Still, cryptos look resilient in the face of geopolitical risks and have potential regulatory catalysts ahead--the picture suddenly looks a bit brighter for beaten-down digital assets.

Write to Callum Keown at callum.keown@dowjones.com

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source: https://www.tradingview.com/news/DJN_DN20260306002228:0/