NEW YORK, April 12, 2026, 04:11 EDT
Bitcoin fell back Sunday, handing over a chunk of its recent gains as U.S.-Iran negotiations in Islamabad wrapped up with no agreement. The largest cryptocurrency hovered at $71,707, off roughly 1.4% from its last close, after climbing to as high as $73,744 earlier in the session.
This shift is notable, with bitcoin barely regaining the $70,000 handle as traders pinned hopes on a tentative truce to calm oil and stabilize wider markets. Now, that bounce is under pressure again—war news, inflation prints, and fast-moving fund flows all back in play.
Money kept moving into U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs—these are funds pegged directly to the token itself. On April 9, the group took in $358.1 million, with another $240.4 million flowing in on April 10. That followed back-to-back outflows on April 7 and April 8. BlackRock’s IBIT and Fidelity’s FBTC pulled in the largest share of Friday’s action.
Morgan Stanley’s MSBT fund is pushing further into the institutional space. The Wall Street bank kicked off its ETF on April 8, marking the first time a major U.S. bank launched a Bitcoin-linked product. Bloomberg noted the spot-bitcoin ETF market is now above $85 billion in assets. Eric Balchunas at Bloomberg Intelligence pointed to MSBT’s “aggressive fee positioning,” calling it a clear sign that financial advisers are hungry for the product. Morgan Stanley
On Friday, U.S. inflation numbers left crypto traders with an uneven picture. Headline CPI jumped 3.3% in March—marking the quickest annual increase since 2022. But core CPI, which excludes food and energy to better gauge underlying trends, landed at 2.6%, undershooting forecasts.
That’s part of the reason bitcoin managed to hang onto most of its gains this week, even after diplomatic efforts over the weekend fizzled out. Earlier, Reuters market reports showed the token surging past $71,000 following the U.S.-Iran ceasefire that boosted risk assets—markets like crypto and tech stocks, which tend to climb when risk appetite rises.
Ether slipped too, changing hands at $2,218.67 as of this day. Capital kept finding its way to the larger, established funds, despite prices once again hitting turbulence.
Executives at Morgan Stanley aren’t mincing words about demand. Amy Oldenburg, who leads digital-asset strategy at the bank, told Bloomberg Markets that MSBT marked the firm’s “best-ever launch.” From the ETF side, Allyson Wallace—global head—said interest from high-net-worth clients has been “quite high.” Bloomberg
The rebound isn’t convincing investors yet. After 21 hours, negotiators in Islamabad walked away without a deal. March inflation numbers jumped, driven by an energy surge linked to the Iran conflict. Saudi Arabia reported full East-West pipeline capacity restored on Sunday, but regional shipping threats remain unresolved.
Bitcoin’s rebound hasn’t closed the gap: it’s still trading roughly 43% beneath that all-time peak of $125,835.92 from October. There’s a tug of war here. One side: consistent institutional buying. The other: a macro environment that could sour fast—oil, inflation, geopolitics all in the mix.
