Brent Above $83, Bitcoin Below $65K — Safe Havens Win the Day 🛢️

Bitcoin held near $64,700 on Friday, little changed over the prior 24 hours, as Middle East tensions intensified following an attack on Saudi Arabia by Yemen's Iran-linked Houthis. The broader CoinDesk 20 (CD20) index slipped 0.2% over the same period. Brent crude moved above $83 a barrel on the geopolitical escalation, while gold extended its recovery, climbing 1.5% to trade around $4,300 per ounce as investors rotated toward traditional safe havens.

U.S. Treasury yields edged lower but remained elevated, with the 10-year note at 4.67%. Fidelity Director of Global Macro Jurrien Timmer said the rate "history suggests that nothing good happens." Sustained higher oil could compound inflation pressures, and elevated yields tend to tighten financial conditions, both of which may limit expectations for near-term rate cuts and weigh on $BTC and other risk assets.

In derivatives markets, the crypto futures long-short taker ratio returned to neutral after leaning bullish on Thursday, indicating a more cautious stance ahead of the U.S. payrolls report. Canton Network's CC token was down 13% in 24 hours even as its futures open interest rose more than 5%, with a negative 24-hour OI-adjusted cumulative volume delta signaling aggressive short selling via market orders. DOGE, XRP and SUI registered open interest gains, while SHIB saw declines. The cumulative volume delta indicator was bearish across most majors, excluding ADA, HBAR and ETH.

Volatility measures stayed muted. The BVIV index, which tracks $BTC's annualized 30-day implied volatility, held near a long-standing floor of 36%, showing little sign of stress despite the delay of the Clarity Act and the approaching U.S. jobs report, with $ETH's volatility index following a similar pattern.