- This is the lowest Bitcoin has dropped since November 2024
- Trump’s trade tariffs are likely impacting crypto market prices as investors look elsewhere to trade
- Two crypto hacks days apart have worsened investor sentiment
Bitcoin’s price has dropped below the $90,000 mark, signalling the lowest decline for the number one crypto asset since November 2024.
On February 25 at 10:25 UTC, Bitcoin was trading at around $87,190, according to data from CoinMarketCap. At the time of publishing, it has risen slightly but remains under $90,000, a key figure to stay in bullish territory.
According to Arthur Hayes, BitMEX’s co-founder, Bitcoin could drop to $70,000 if large hedge funds sell their positions in Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Impact of Trump’s tariffs
The drop in value comes amid uncertainty about inflation, US President Donald Trump’s policies, and geopolitical events.
Yesterday, Trump confirmed 25% trade tariffs on Canada and Mexico, causing the market to react as investors look to other avenues to put their money.
According to James Toledano, COO at Unity Wallet, many believed that Bitcoin’s price would continue rising once Trump entered the White House, adding to CoinJournal:
“But the reality is that the price has gone south, likely due to tariff trade wars, fragile peace talks in Eastern Europe, and fears around DeepSeek’s impact on the US tech sector. But this could also just be a momentary lapse of pricing reason.”
Security breach at Bybit
Last week, Hong Kong-based crypto exchange Bybit was the target of a major hack, resulting in the loss of nearly $1.5 billion worth of Ethereum from a single wallet.
Despite Ben Zhou, Bybit’s founder and CEO, saying it had “fully closed the ETH gap,” raising funds to cover the losses and boost investor confidence, the fact remains that investors are shaken.
Not only that, but neobank Infini suffered a $50 million hack yesterday. According to reports, insider access enabled the hacker to manipulate the platform’s smart contract it had developed after retaining administrative privileges unbeknownst to Infini.
Following the theft, the hacker converted the stolen USDC into Dai and then purchased 17,696 Ethereum, valued at around $49 million at the time.
“Additionally, global macroeconomic uncertainty and a downturn in traditional markets have weighed on Bitcoin, as risk assets remain highly sensitive to external pressures,” said Toledano.
“Note, the S&P 500 which is the bellwether for the equities market is down over 4% over the last month and over 2% this past week alone. While 2 and 4 percentage points mean little in the cryptosphere, these figures are notable in TradFi from a loss perspective.”
