Bitcoin falls below $80,000 as Trump’s crypto reserve underwhelms market, tariff anxieties loom

Cryptocurrency prices extended their slide as escalating tariff war tensions and diminishing prospects of further Federal Reserve rate cuts offset a wave of pro-crypto announcements from President Donald Trump last week.
Risk assets like crypto are under pressure amid anxiety that Trump’s tariffs and government firings will torpedo growth in the world’s largest economy. US equities slumped and Treasuries rallied as investors sought a refuge.
“While Trump’s strategic crypto reserve announcement initially drove optimism, the rally quickly unravelled amid aggressive selling linked to worsening macro conditions,” wrote Nikolay Karpenko, director at B2C2.
Bitcoin fell as much as 4.5 per cent to $79,334 on Monday, the lowest level since February 28, before paring the loss. Solana, Cardano and XRP, all tokens that Trump had mentioned as possible candidates for a digital-asset stockpile but were not mentioned in Trump’s executive order, also slumped.
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, 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 only hold existing government holdings,” said Jeff Mei, chief operating officer at crypto exchange BTSE.