WASHINGTON – Cryptocurrency prices extended their slide, sending Bitcoin to the lowest level since November, as escalating tariff war tensions spurred concern about the economy that offset a wave of pro-crypto announcements from US President Donald Trump last week.
Risk assets like crypto are under pressure amid anxiety that Mr Trump’s tariffs and government firings will torpedo growth in the world’s largest economy. US equities slid and Treasuries rallied as investors sought a refuge.
“While Trump’s strategic crypto reserve announcement initially drove optimism, the rally quickly unraveled amid aggressive selling linked to worsening macro conditions,” wrote Mr Nikolay Karpenko, director at crypto firm B2C2.
Bitcoin slid on March 11 to its lowest since Nov 10, at around US$77,000.
Solana, Cardano and XRP, all tokens that Mr Trump had mentioned as possible candidates for a digital asset stockpile but were not cited in his executive order, each slumped even more.
Crypto-linked stocks such as Coinbase Global posted its biggest decline since July 2022, while entrepreneur Michael Saylor’s levered Bitcoin proxy Strategy also fell.
Mr Trump’s crypto-friendly stance, including an order to create a US Bitcoin reserve and a separate stockpile of other tokens, along with a high-profile summit with industry executives in Washington last week, has done little to lift market sentiment.
While the administration pledged to capitalise the reserve with crypto seized in legal proceedings, the absence of fresh capital commitments disappointed investors.
“The market perceived the summit as underwhelming and top cryptocurrencies dropped after it was revealed that the widely anticipated crypto reserve would hold only existing government holdings,” said Mr Jeff Mei, chief operating officer at crypto exchange BTSE.
The US currently owns about US$17 billion (S$22.65 billion) worth of Bitcoin and about US$400 million worth of several other tokens, largely attributable to asset forfeitures related to civil and criminal cases.
Investors are rationally more bullish on crypto given recent developments like the reduced US Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement, but other factors are more nuanced or even negative, said Mr Ari Paul, co-founder of BlockTower Capital.
“The apparent capricious favouritism in the administration’s selection of assets for the strategic reserve – especially after the launching of Trump and Melania coins – is a strong deterrent to investors,” Mr Paul said in a message. “It’s created the impression that the Trump administration is engaged in lobbying-based selection and promotion of ‘insider’ assets, and that the cryptocurrency market today is largely a short-term trading casino,” he added.
Since February, investors have withdrawn a net US$4.4 billion from the group of US Bitcoin ETFs, which played a key role in the token’s record run in 2024.
The largest crypto asset is currently down about 28 per cent from its record high of US$109,241 and the broader crypto market has lost over US$1 trillion in market capitalisation from its peak, according to CoinGecko.
“Bitcoin could very well drop to the US$70,000-$80,000 range in the coming weeks. Only when this tariff war ends and the Fed resumes cutting rates will top cryptocurrencies resume trending towards previous all-time highs,” Mr Mei added. BLOOMBERG
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