Bitcoin topped $81,000 in Asian trading on Tuesday, according to CoinDesk market data, up 6.7% for the week, all on a broader risk-on trend that sent stocks to record highs on easing tensions in Iran and renewed optimism around artificial intelligence.
Other major crypto traders caught on to the offer. Solana rose 3% to $87.35. Dogecoin added another 4% to $0.1158, extending its weekly gain to 14.5% as open interest in futures contracts hit annual highs. XRP, BNB and TRX all saw gains during the day.
Ether lagged behind, down 0.3% in 24 hours despite a weekly gain of 3.9% to $2,376. Spot ETH ETF flows turned negative last week, ending a three-week inflow streak.
Wall Street indexes closed at record highs on Tuesday after President Donald Trump signaled progress toward a “final deal” with Iran and announced a brief pause in Operation Project Freedom. The price of Brent crude fell by 1.7% to around $108 per barrel. The dollar, which has been a favorite safe haven during the US-Israeli war against Iran, has weakened against all its G-10 rivals.
Asian stocks hit record highs on Wednesday morning, with the MSCI Asia Pacific Index rising 1.8%. South Korea’s Kospi jumped more than 6% to a record high, while Samsung Electronics rose 15% to reach a trillion-dollar valuation, the second Asian firm ever to surpass that mark, SEEbiz reports.
Strong earnings from Advanced Micro Devices and Super Micro Computer helped boost AI trading, with Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.6%.
A key development came when Strategy CEO Michael Saylor said at the firm’s Q1 2026 earnings conference call that it may sell some of its bitcoin holdings to fund the dividend payment.
“We’ll probably sell some bitcoin to pay the dividend just to inject the market and send a message that we’ve done that,” Saylor said.
The world’s largest corporate holder of bitcoin, which holds 818,334 BTC at an average acquisition price of $75,537, has not previously sold any of its positions. The model has always been buy and hold.
Strategy posted a net loss of $12.54 billion in the first quarter as bitcoin’s fall from a peak of $126,000 in October weighed on the firm’s mark-to-market accounting. The firm has approximately $1.5 billion in annual dividend payment obligations on preferred stock and outstanding debt, with about 18 months of US dollar reserves to cover them at current exchange rates.
MSTR shares fell more than 4% in after-hours trading following the announcement, and BTC briefly dipped below $81,000 before recovering.
