Rising geopolitical tensions tend to drive investors toward traditionally safe assets such as gold. But in the first week of March 2026, even as geopolitical tensions increased, the crypto market reacted somewhat differently than expected.
In the aftermath of the war between Iran and the United States and Israel, global crypto markets recovered somewhat. In fact, escalating tensions in the Middle East were followed by social data highlighting an increase in attention around Bitcoin [BTC]Aaf [AAVE]Uniswap [UNI]and more.
However, despite the wave of online discussions, the Fear & Greed Index still conveys fear. While it had a reading of 22 at the time of writing, it fell to a low of 10 yesterday.
Source: Alternative.me
Bitcoin, Aave and Uniswap are gaining ground – why?
According to Santiment, Bitcoin (BTC) is continue to dominate social media discussions in the crypto market, sentiment around it is divided.
On the one hand, many users on X are focusing on positive developments, such as daily gains of 4 to 7% and steady inflows into Bitcoin ETFs. These have helped push BTC to the $70,000 mark.
At the same time, however, discussions on Telegram and Reddit have increasingly shifted to Bitcoin-related scams.
Many channels are flooded with scams offering “Flash BTC” or USDT at a discount, which is technically impossible on the Bitcoin network.
As a result, overall sentiment remains mixed even as social interest increases.
Source: Santiment
Next in line is Aave, which recently crossed the $1 trillion mark in cumulative lending volumes. Unfortunately, community spirit remains muted due to governance concerns following the departure of the Aave Chan Initiative (ACI) and the earlier departure of BGD Labs.
Meanwhile, Uniswap scored a legal victory after a US court ruled that Uniswap Labs cannot be held responsible for third-party scam tokens.
However, despite the good news for Uniswap, concerns among users persist as many report wallet connection issues and other concerns about dusting attacks.
What this means is that the rise in social sentiment may not be fueled by entirely positive expectations.
Does the data support the sentiment?
At the time of writing, Santiment revealed a mixed trend between Bitcoin’s social engagement and market sentiment in recent months.
While the number of active social users discussing BTC is steadily increasing, weighted sentiment has been volatile and largely remained near neutral.
A sharp decline in early February 2026 reflected a wave of negative discussions, likely linked to market stress, but sentiment quickly recovered – a sign that the pessimism was short-lived.
Source: Santiment
Meanwhile, the weighted sentiment for Aave and Uniswap from August 2025 to mid-February 2026 revealed something interesting. Both tokens showed frequent swings between positive and negative sentiment, reflecting how DeFi discussions react quickly to market events and news.
While AAVE sentiment remained close to neutral with short bursts of optimism, UNI experienced stronger positive phases, but also sharper declines during periods of market stress.
Source: Santiment
Meanwhile, the rise in Google searches for ‘Bitcoin going to zero’ in February 2026 underlined the intense fear present in the market. While extreme anxiety can signal potential long-term opportunities, recovery may be slower this time around.
With so many developments taking place, it remains to be seen what will happen next.
Final summary
- An increase in discussions signals attention, but “extreme fear” suggested investors remained hesitant.
- Increasing social activity often attracts fraudulent schemes that distort online sentiment.