Bitcoin as well as other major cryptocurrencies fell after US President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on trading partners worldwide, which triggered a slump in risky assets.
Bitcoin, which is the largest of such digital asset in terms of market cap, fell as much as four per cent to about $82,000 on Thursday morning, according to a Bloomberg report.
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Even other cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum and XRP dropped in value. Ethereum was down 2.96 per cent, trading at $1,823.34, while XRP was down 2.21 per cent, trading at $2.05.
Solana meanwhile, had at one point, lost more than nine per cent of its value.
This came after Trump announced on Wednesday that he will impose a minimum 10 per cent tariff on all exporters to the US as well as slap additional duties on around 60 nations which have the largest trade imbalances with the US.
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China in particular, got a 34 per cent levy, India got 26 per cent, Japan is seeing 24 per cent in tariffs, and the European Union will have a 20 per cent rate.
“As a risk-on asset, cryptocurrencies have generally traded poorly during periods of uncertainty following announcements such as steady high rates or the introduction of trade tariffs,” the report quoted John Wu, president at Ava Labs, as saying.
In sharp contrast, gold underscored its haven status, hitting a record-high of nearly $3,160 an ounce at the same time. Bullion was one of the few commodities which are exempted from the tariffs.
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“Markets will likely dip in the short term, not because of the tariffs themselves, but because of what they represent: the return of policy-driven volatility,” said Ben Kurland, CEO of crypto research platform DYOR. “Traders hate unpredictability, and this signals more is coming.”
