Bitcoin recovered to $82,000 on Friday as cryptocurrency prices rebounded from Thursday’s sell-off. The recovery followed President Donald Trump’s announcement that the United States would not launch an attack on Iran before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, easing concerns about an immediate escalation in tensions.

Trump shared the statement on Truth Social at 12:17 p.m. ET, ruling out military action against Iran before the elections.

“We will not be attacking Iran at any time prior to the Midterm Elections to be held in the United States on November 3rd,” he wrote.

Trump described talks with Iran as “productive” but said the U.S. blockade would remain “in full force and effect.”

Bitcoin’s downward momentum faded near $80,300 after the post, and the cryptocurrency gradually advanced toward $82,000. The wider market followed suit, with Ether, XRP, Solana and other leading digital assets recovering some of their losses from Thursday.

Oil rally and geopolitical risks drive volatility

The previous day’s sell-off began amid renewed concerns about a potential military confrontation between Washington and Tehran, which pushed crude oil prices higher.

Axios reported on Oct. 7 that the Pentagon had directed U.S. Central Command to prepare for a possible return to major combat operations in Iran. The news lifted West Texas Intermediate crude futures from $89 to $93.20. Prices subsequently dropped sharply after Trump’s announcement, with crude futures trading at $90.69 at the time of writing.

Experts question concerns over crypto ‘bunker mode’

The market has also been affected by debate surrounding “bunker mode,” a proposed precautionary measure for cryptocurrency security that drew attention on Thursday.

The strategy involves moving digital assets into newly generated wallet addresses whose public keys have not previously been exposed onchain. Its purpose is to reduce potential vulnerabilities if advances in mathematics and computing threaten the cryptographic systems used to secure crypto transactions.

Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake raised the proposal earlier this week, warning that AI-assisted mathematical advances could potentially weaken elliptic-curve cryptography, which protects Bitcoin and Ethereum transactions, before quantum computers become powerful enough to break it.

Coinbase chief cryptographer Yehuda Lindell rejected the concerns as “FUD,” arguing that no evidence showed the established assumptions behind elliptic-curve cryptography had been compromised.

Dragonfly’s Haseeb Qureshi described the proposal as a “very sober call.” Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin acknowledged the possible risks associated with AI-accelerated mathematics but highlighted lattice-based cryptography rather than elliptic curves in his comments.

Bitcoin traders watch $81,000 support

Traders are closely tracking Bitcoin’s $81,000 support level, which could determine the market’s next move. A sustained break below it could lead to further declines.

“For investors, $81,000 is the immediate level to watch. Fresh purchases can be staggered instead of being committed in 1 trade, while high leverage is best avoided until Bitcoin recovers $83,300 and then $85,500 with stronger ETF inflows. A break below $81,000 could take the market towards $80,000 and subsequently the more important on-chain support near $77,200,” Vikram Subburaj, CEO of India-based Giottus exchange, told CoinDesk.

BitDelta identified $82,000 as the main resistance level Bitcoin needs to overcome.

“A sustained reclaim of $82,000 with Ethereum above $2,500 and narrower altcoin losses would stabilize the setup. A break below $80,316 would increase downside risk,” Purvang Mashru, lead analyst at BitDelta India, told CoinDesk.