Bitcoin fell below $65,000 and printed an intraday low of $64,785 on Bitstamp, before rebounding to $66,778 by 8:25 p.m. Eastern on Sunday. Over the past 24 hours, 86,277 traders were liquidated for $278 million, including $234 million in longs, with more than $100 million in BTC longs and roughly $85 million in ETH longs wiped out. The broader crypto market slipped 0.58% to $2.28 trillion as U.S. stock futures turned lower and oil rose to $103.

As of March 29, 2026, 5 p.m. ET, the Pentagon has surged more than 50,000 U.S. troops across the Middle East while drafting contingency options for limited ground raids inside Iran, but no U.S. forces have entered Iranian territory. Polymarket's "US forces enter Iran by?" market shows $49.6 million in volume, with odds at 71% for entry by April 30 and 78% by Dec. 31, 2026.

Coin ATM Radar data dated March 29, 2026, shows the global crypto ATM fleet at 38,928 units after a 597 net decline in 2026 to date. The U.S. leads with 30,247 machines (77.7%), followed by Canada at 3,839 (9.9%) and Europe at 1,727 (4.4%). Bitcoin Depot remains the largest operator with 9,246 ATMs, while bitcoin is supported on nearly all machines and ethereum is listed at 22,200 locations.

Lido DAO approved a $60 million operating budget for 2026 and set a three-year plan to expand beyond liquid staking into yield vaults, institutional wrappers, and "real-business DeFi." The strategy follows staking yield compression, with base APRs cited at 3–5%, and includes Ethereum mainnet launches such as Lido V3 stVaults (Jan. 30, 2026) plus Lido Earn products EarnETH and EarnUSD.

The CBOE Volatility Index ended Friday at 31.05, rising 13.16% on the session to its highest close since late 2025. Gold hovered near $4,491 per ounce and silver rebounded to $69.82 as investors sought havens amid Middle East-related supply concerns around the Strait of Hormuz. Brent and WTI were recently trading in a $99 to $115 per barrel range, keeping inflation and 2026 Fed-rate expectations in focus.

Johns Hopkins economist Steve Hanke said in a recent interview that the U.S. is losing leverage in the Iran conflict and is "functionally insolvent." He pointed to a sharp drop in Strait of Hormuz throughput, claimed the Iranian rial has risen 6% since the war began, and cited federal figures showing about $6 trillion in assets versus roughly $48 trillion in on-balance-sheet liabilities and around $136 trillion including Social Security and Medicare.

Bitcoin traded at $66,759 on March 29, 2026 around 9 a.m. Eastern time, moving within a 24-hour band of $66,266 to $67,185. The market cap was $1.33 trillion and 24-hour volume totaled $23.11 billion as price sat near short-term support. Technical readings showed subdued trend strength and mixed momentum, leaving direction uncertain.

Bitcoin's network hashrate rose back above 1 ZH/s on March 28, while hashprice slid over the prior days to $31.60 per PH/s per day. Difficulty was last adjusted down 7.76%, and the next adjustment is due April 2, 2026 with an estimated +6.43% change. Miners are earning about 3.14 BTC per block, with fees contributing 0.43% and mempool fees around 2.4 sats/vB.

Saudi Arabia’s 1,200-kilometer East-West Pipeline (Petroline) has reached its rated maximum of 7 million barrels per day, creating a partial overland alternative as Strait of Hormuz flows are estimated to be down 90% to 95%. The milestone was reported as being achieved on March 28, 2026, after Aramco’s CEO said on March 10 that full capacity was only days away. Oil prices remained elevated, with WTI closing March 27 at $99.64–$101.18 per barrel and Brent settling at $105.32–$112.57.