Bitcoin Price Dives Below $60,000 Less Than 24 Hours Before Halving

The Bitcoin halving is less than a day away, but the price of the leading cryptocurrency isn’t showing much strength ahead of the quadrennial event. The price of Bitcoin plunged below $60,000 late Thursday for the first time since late February, falling as low as $59,573 at crypto exchange Coinbase.

The latest dip extends Bitcoin’s recent losing streak, pushing its weekly dive to nearly 14%. Bitcoin’s price has now fallen 18% since hitting an all-time high price of $73,737 just over a month ago.

Following the sudden dip, Bitcoin’s price has rebounded slightly to $60,945 at present. It’s still down by more than 1% over the past day, but plunged from a price of over $63,000 to below $60,000 in less than two hours.

Thursday’s slide corresponds with another bout of geopolitical conflict, too: Explosions have been reported near a military base in Iran in the last hour-plus, according to news outlets. A U.S. official told CNN that Israel has struck Iran.

While details remain sparse at press time, the reported conflict follows a barrage of missiles and drone strikes that Iran fired at Israel last Saturday. Crypto prices similarly plunged amid last weekend’s events, as well.

Other top coins like Ethereum and Solana have also dipped substantially over the last couple hours, but are starting to rebound.

The further downslide could cool excitement around Friday’s Bitcoin halving, the event that takes place approximately every four years in which the BTC reward given to miners is slashed in half. The move is typically associated with an eventual rise in the price of Bitcoin due to a supply crunch.