Bitcoin falls below $78,000 after Iran toll plan

Bitcoin fell below $78,000 on Saturday after Iran announced plans to charge fees for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz. The cryptocurrency traded near $77,947 after slipping under $78,000. The two-day selloff erased more than $80 billion from crypto market value and triggered roughly $620 million in liquidations over 24 hours, with long positions taking the bulk of the losses. Some exchange dashboards showed about $469 million in wiped long positions in the most recent 24-hour window.

The decline followed an earlier surge this week. The Senate Banking Committee voted 15-9 to advance the CLARITY Act, briefly lifting bitcoin above $82,000 before traders booked profits. One market analyst described the reversal as “textbook profit-taking” after weeks of pricing in regulatory progress.

Hopes for a softer tariff stance at an upcoming U.S.-China summit faded when President Donald Trump denied that such talks had taken place, a development that weighed on U.S. equities and digital-asset markets.

Iran outlined a system to manage traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and said fees will be collected for services provided to vessels following a designated route. Iranian official Ebrahim Azizi characterized the mechanism as prepared “within the framework of its national sovereignty,” saying only commercial vessels and parties cooperating with Iran would benefit. Iran reported that ships from China, Japan and Pakistan had transited after receiving Iranian clearance, and several European operators are seeking similar permission.

Analysts pointed to wider economic and diplomatic factors. One analyst said Iranian crude exports have fallen more than 80% since mid-March and that domestic fuel rationing has produced long queues at filling stations and a growing gasoline black market. Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi reportedly arrived in Tehran for an unannounced visit, described by observers as part of backchannel diplomacy around tensions with the United States.

Market commentators differed on how much the Hormuz announcement influenced prices. Analyst Mario Nawfal argued that charging passage fees would amount to a sovereignty claim unlikely to be recognized by other governments. Another market analyst noted bitcoin has been in a weekly downtrend since October and suggested single news events have not consistently altered the market’s broader trend.

Prediction market pricing assigned roughly 60% odds to bitcoin falling below $75,000 before month-end. The cryptocurrency currently trades about 38% below its October peak near $126,080.