Iranian state media broadcast images of Ali Khamenei’s coffin arriving at Tehran’s Mosalla prayer hall, marking the formal start of what is being called one of the largest state funerals in the Islamic Republic’s history. The ceremony, part of a multi-city procession scheduled from July 4 to July 9, is the culmination of months of political upheaval that has rippled through every corner of global markets, crypto included.
Khamenei was killed on February 28 during US-Israeli airstrikes that launched what became the 2026 Iran war. His death was confirmed on March 1. For crypto traders, that confirmation kicked off one of the year’s most volatile trading windows.
The market whiplash
Bitcoin initially dipped on the news of the airstrikes, as it tends to do when geopolitical chaos spikes and investors scramble for exits across risk assets. But that dip didn’t last long.
BTC rebounded above $68,000 shortly after the confirmation of Khamenei’s death. The logic, if you can call wartime market behavior logical, was straightforward: investors began pricing in the possibility of de-escalation once the leadership vacuum was established.
