Bitcoin climbs back near $78k as stock markets rally; Iran risks cap gains

Bitcoin gained on Friday, hovering near the $78,000 mark, helped by risk appetite that also lifted equities. The world’s largest cryptocurrency in the previous session notched its best monthly performance in a year.

Bitcoin was last up 2.2% to $77,949.0 by 17:15 ET (21:15 GMT), rebounding for a second straight day after hitting lows just below $75,000 on Wednesday. For the week, Bitcoin was set for an increase of 0.4%.

Bitcoin’s best month since April 2025 

The cryptocurrency jumped nearly 12% last month amid optimism from a temporary U.S.-Iran ceasefire and record highs on Wall Street.

Earlier in April, Bitcoin had rallied above the $79,000 level amid optimism over potential de-escalation in the Middle East and strong institutional inflows.

A key near-term hurdle for Bitcoin remains the $80,000 resistance level, which has repeatedly capped rallies over the past month.

Investor sentiment in April was supported by a big rebound on Wall Street, with the benchmark S&P 500 index and the tech-heavy Nasdaq repeatedly closing at record levels in recent sessions, boosting appetite for higher-risk assets, including cryptocurrencies.

Analysts say Bitcoin has increasingly traded in line with macro risk trends, behaving similarly to equities during periods of heightened liquidity and optimism.

Iran’s new proposal, Trump says not ’satisfied’

However, gains in Bitcoin remained capped as geopolitical risks persisted.

Reports on Thursday indicated that President Donald Trump was set to receive a briefing on potential military options against Iran, stoking fears of further escalation.

Iran’s state media on Friday said Tehran had submitted a new peace proposal to Pakistani mediators, without giving any other details. The Wall Street Journal reported that the revised proposal from Tehran drops an upfront demand for the U.S. to end its naval blockade of Iran’s ports and coastline, citing people familiar with the matter.

Reports of the proposal provided a boost to de-escalation hopes, but those hopes were clouded somewhat after Trump told reporters Iran wants "to make a deal, but I’m not satisfied with it, so we’ll see what happens."

"We just had a conversation with Iran. Let’s see what happens, but I would say that I’m not happy ... They’ve got to come up with the right deal. At this moment, I’m not satisfied with what they’re offering," Trump said.