Cryptocurrency prices were significantly impacted by the looming threat of a trade war between the U.S. and its major trading partners, with both well-established digital assets and even President Donald Trump’s own meme coin taking steep losses.
Bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency, experienced a drop from around $105,000 shortly after Trump announced plans on Saturday to impose large tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico, and China. The price fell to approximately $92,000 by Sunday night but recovered to over $100,000 by Monday afternoon after Trump paused the tariffs on Mexican goods. A similar halt was later announced for Canadian goods.
While Bitcoin demonstrated more resilience compared to other cryptocurrencies, the wider market saw significant declines. Ethereum, Dogecoin, and several other popular digital assets dropped sharply. Trump’s meme coin, created ahead of his second inauguration, was trading around $19 on Monday—down roughly 75% from its all-time high shortly after its launch.
“These are riskier cryptos than Bitcoin,” said Garrick Hileman, an independent cryptocurrency analyst. “But it’s surprising how big the gap is.”
The market volatility was part of a broader global financial swing as Trump’s tariffs neared implementation. The former president had warned that Americans might feel “some pain” from the tariffs but claimed it would be “worth the price” to make America great again. He also mentioned that similar import taxes could soon apply to the European Union and possibly the United Kingdom. However, U.S. stock markets partially recovered after Mexico’s president announced a temporary reprieve on the tariffs.
Bitcoin, created in 2009 as an electronic form of currency independent of banks or governments, has seen its price movements increasingly mirror that of tech stocks in recent years, as the cryptocurrency moved from niche interest to mainstream acceptance.
Nic Carter, a partner at Castle Island Ventures, explained, “The flip side of this asset gaining respectability and finding a role in institutional portfolios is that it is now exposed to liquidity constraints faced by larger investors. We wanted Bitcoin to become a global macro asset class—and now it is.”
Meme coins, which often start as jokes without inherent value, can experience wild price swings if there’s enough hype and interest from investors. While Trump had been a crypto skeptic in the past, he has since embraced digital assets, both as a wealth source and a government policy priority. The former president has expressed his desire to make the U.S. the world leader in cryptocurrency and appointed crypto-friendly figures to key positions in government.
Since Trump’s election, cryptocurrencies have seen a surge in value, with Bitcoin still trading near its all-time high of $109,000. Despite recent turbulence, the digital asset continues to demonstrate significant market relevance.
