War in 2026: 3 cryptocurrencies to watch amid the ongoing geopolitical storm

The global geopolitical tension is palpable. Here are a few cryptocurrencies worth looking at in this context in 2026.

As CryptoPotato reported yesterday, the US, along with Israel, has attacked Iran. Retaliation followed, and now both sides are urging the other side to reconsider the situation before responding with an even stronger response.

In the context of significant geopolitical tensions, we decided to speculate a bit and see which three cryptocurrencies are worth looking at in such a scenario.

Bitcoin

As much as the industry would like to portray Bitcoin as a safe haven away from risky markets, over the past year it has been anything but.

Yet BTC remains the crypto king – it is the largest by market capitalization, accounting for 56% of the entire sector. That’s worth seeing. However, in terms of performance, the primary cryptocurrency tends to plummet when conflict arises and rebound as tensions subside. That’s what happened last year when the US attacked Iran and later claimed it destroyed their nuclear program; that seems to be happening now.

But it’s also worth noting that Bitcoin has been much more volatile than the traditional markets, and experts seem to believe that the current price action is indicative of a deep crypto winter.

If that is the case and the conflict in the Middle East is somehow defused, it could also remove the apparent uncertainty in the markets and ultimately drive up the price. On the other hand, a prolonged conflict with escalating tensions and the involvement of new countries such as Russia, China and the entire Middle East could create more uncertainty – something the US has vowed to avoid by not getting involved in a prolonged war in the region. Time will tell.

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As of this writing, BTC is trading around $67,000 – down 2% in the past week, up 5% in the past 24 hours, but more importantly, down 47% from the all-time high reached just five months ago. Although there is clearly a downward trend, resolution of ongoing conflicts could serve as a catalyst for recovery.

Tokenized gold tokens

Gold has taken center stage in 2025 and, apart from an unprecedented decline in early February 2026, it has mostly risen for these assets. It’s safe to say that it lives up to its name as a true safe haven, as investors flock to it in times of geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainty.

As of this writing, the gold price is trading above $5,200 per ounce and has risen more than 100% in the past year.

But physical gold is not that easy to obtain, spreads can be significant and logistics are challenging. That’s where investors can turn to their digital representative, tokens fully supported by it.

The two most popular, which account for the majority of the tokenized gold market, are Paxos’ PAX Gold (PAXG) and Tether’s Tether Gold (XAUT), which have similar capitalizations.

Both are traded on the most popular centralized exchanges with significant market depth, making them extremely easy to trade with minimal slippage. Of course, you’re trading for certainty almost out of convenience, because you have to trust that the issuers do indeed have enough gold to back them in the event of physical redemption.

But on the other hand, if you are someone who speculates, as much of the market seems to be these days, then having access to a liquid, fast gold packing material may be an option.

That said, interest in both is evident: their overall market capitalization has soared over the past year.

Privacy-oriented coins

In 2025, we saw a buying frenzy focused on privacy coins such as Zcash (ZEC) and Monero (XMR). In the context of a high-intensity conflict, which will likely involve heavy sanctions (such as those against Russia, Iran, etc.) or increased government surveillance of financial flows, privacy-oriented assets often see a spike in their utility.

Don’t take my word for it.

Despite a crash that took around 55% of the total market capitalization in January, XMR continues to rise by over 56% over the past year. The case of ZEC is even more impressive, as it has increased by more than 500% during the same period.