(Jan 19): Cryptocurrencies fell sharply as risk assets slipped and haven demand strengthened, after US President Donald Trump proposed new levies on eight European countries.
Bitcoin slid as much as 3.6% to below US$92,000 ($118,282) during Asia trading hours on Monday, while other tokens posted steeper losses. Ether, the second-largest digital asset, shed 4.9% of its value, while solana fell 8.6%.
The sell-off knocked about US$100 billion off the crypto market’s total value, according to CoinGecko data. Bitcoin pared some of those losses to trade around 2.5% down as of 6am in New York.
Trump said over the weekend that he would impose a 10% tariff on goods from eight European countries starting Feb 1, rising to 25% in June unless there’s a deal for a “purchase of Greenland.” That saw US equity-index futures slump as trading began Monday, while haven assets gold and silver surged to records.
The president’s comments drew rebuke from European leaders, who are now poised to halt the approval of a trade agreement struck last year.
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Digital assets had been enjoying a promising start to the year, after ending 2025 in a malaise, unable to mount a sustained recovery from a brutal October rout. Bitcoin rose to just shy of US$98,000 on Jan 14, with strong inflows into a group of US-listed exchange-traded funds for the token.
That was seen as “a rebound from the oversold levels driven by tax-loss selling and general capitulation coming into year-end,” said Richard Galvin, co-founder of hedge fund DACM. The latest bout of tariff concerns has pumped the brakes on that, while gold hitting all-time highs confirms the selling is “more a risk-off move than anything crypto-specific,” Galvin added.
About US$790 million of bullish bets on cryptocurrencies were liquidated in the past 24 hours, CoinGlass data show. Traders see US$90,000 as the next stop if current support fails, “while bulls point to institutional demand as a potential floor,” said Rachael Lucas, an analyst at BTC Markets.
Uploaded by Magessan Varatharaja
