Crypto Tumbles as Iran Conflict Escalates & Inflation Concerns, BTC back under $70K

Crypto majors are very red ahead amidst the war escalation and inflation concerns; BTC -5% at $70.2k; ETH -6% at $2,170; SOL -4% at $90. KAS (+11%), RIVER (+7%), and MORPHO (+7%) led top movers. Oil spiked to $98 after multiple energy infrastructure targets hit; GOLD -6% at $4,696. PPI came in at 3.4% and above expectations. The SEC approved Nasdaq’s rule change allowing tokenized securities to trade on the exchange through the DTC pilot program, with the change taking effect for the duration of that pilot. Algorand Foundation cut 25% of staff amid crypto-market weakness and broader macro uncertainty, while saying it remains focused on network growth. Tempo Network mainnet launched as a payments-focused layer-1 backed by Stripe and Paradigm, with a new Machine Payments Protocol built for AI agents to transact beyond the limits of existing payment rails. Citi downgraded Gemini from Neutral to Sell, saying profitability is still years away; it cut the stock price target from $13 to $5.50, and GEMI fell more than 16% on the day.