Bitcoin has been around for a long time, and despite its volatility, the leading cryptocurrency has stood the test of time since its launch.
However, 2020-2026 was an important year for Bitcoin, which managed to outperform in every crisis.
Bitcoin during 7 major crises
Starting with the first US-Iran escalation on January 3, 2020, Bitcoin ($BTC) soared 20%, while gold jumped just 6%.
Conversely, the S&P 500 fell 7%. When the new coronavirus infection broke out in March of the same year, $BTC The S&P 500 and gold rose 2% and 3%, respectively.
Similar patterns were seen during the Russia-Ukraine war, the 2026 US-Iran war, and the US banking crisis.
But it wasn’t until 2024 that the unwinding of the yen carry trade caused gold to soar 9% and the S&P 500 to soar 7%. $BTC The increase was only 3%.
At the time, the Bank of Japan’s interest rate hikes and weak US economic indicators led to the yen’s appreciation.
A comparison table of these assets based on 60-day returns highlighted that Bitcoin was the only asset that recovered.
Referring to the same, the Bitcoin Archive account featured X and said:
7 out of 7 times. No other asset can match this.
BitBo’s Bitcoin price history chart (since 2009) further supports this sentiment. If we zoom out, we can see that the entire graph looks like this: $BTC Despite the short-term decline, prices are rising.
In 2022, the perspective was different, but in 2026…
However, a research paper published by SRNN in 2022, the year Russia invaded Ukraine, contradicts the aforementioned view, stating:
Cryptoassets primarily exhibit weak safe-haven properties against commodity markets and strong safe-haven properties against foreign exchange currencies.
However, another research paper published by Grayscale four years later in 2026 changed the perspective and added:
Cryptocurrencies have held up well since the war with Iran began.
Zach Pandle, Head of Research at Grayscale, gave an example to show how spot crypto ETPs have experienced net inflows. Pandor also revealed how open interest in perpetual futures skyrocketed despite the sell-off risks seen from October to early February.
Furthermore, regulatory developments such as the CLARITY Act and the SEC guidelines on non-securities have given a positive image to the crypto market.
In fact, crypto payments escalated during the war, with Iran receiving crypto tolls from ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
Seeing such activity, AMBCrypto previously reported that the toll imposed by Iran would cause the US dollar to weaken against the dollar. $BTC. As expected, this will make Bitcoin the world’s reserve currency.
Final summary
- Bitcoin’s 60-day bounce rate is higher than that of traditional assets such as gold and the S&P 500.
- Not everyone shares a similar view on Bitcoin being considered the ultimate safe haven in times of war.
