Bitcoin holds near $81K as Iran ceasefire hopes fuel equity records and crypto takes a breather

Crypto majors paused their recent run on Thursday, with bitcoin hovering around $81,000 and ether slipping below $2,330, while dogecoin shed 4% — even as weekly gains across the board remained solid. The pullback coincided with global equities pushing to fresh records on optimism over a potential US-Iran ceasefire, with the MSCI All Country World Index up 0.3% and Asia's gauge jumping 1.9% to a record high.

The structural backdrop for crypto remains intact. Tether's market cap has grown by $5.9 billion over the past 60 days, reversing a prior outflow trend, while FxPro's Alex Kuptsikevich flagged bitcoin's 200-day moving average near $83,300 as the next key test — a sustained close above it, he wrote, would be "a further sign of bullish dominance." Short-term profit-taking near that level is likely, he added.

Beyond price action, Morgan Stanley signalled US banks may eventually hold…