KEY POINTS
- $BTC plunged below $95,000 at one point Sunday night, dropping sharply from a $102,000 high last week
- $ADA was the hardest-hit overnight, bleeding nearly 5%, followed by $XRP, which was down 3.7% in the day
- Europe is the world’s second-largest crypto economy and accounts for a significant chunk in global crypto transaction volumes
U.S. President Donald Trump warned Sunday that the European Union should expect tariffs “pretty soon,” saying how the bloc handled its trade with the United States was an “atrocity,” roiling the broader financial market and hitting cryptocurrency prices hard.
Trump has yet to provide official details about tariffs on EU goods, but he complained that the U.S. had been importing “millions of cars” from the bloc, yet the EU imported “almost nothing” in American goods.
Notably, Trump slapped tariffs on European steel and aluminum in his first presidency.
As soon as news of the incoming Trump tariffs hit financial markets, crypto prices started plunging, including Bitcoin and major altcoins.
The $3.2 trillion industry struggled to recover after getting hit by Trump’s tariff announcements on Canadian and Mexican goods the previous weekend.
$BTC, Crypto Prices Shaken by Trump Warning
Bitcoin, the world’s largest crypto asset by market cap, bled 1.6% overnight and at one point traded below $95,000, marking a sharp drop from a high of $102,000 last week.
CoinGecko
Other leading altcoins were also in the red Sunday night, with world Top 2 Ethereum (ETH) decreasing 2.6% in the day and XRP shedding 3.7%.
Popular Solana (SOL) was down 1% in the last 24 hours, and BNB plunged nearly 2%. Cardano (ADA) was among the hardest hit in the day, plummeting by nearly 5%.
CoinGecko
The Sunday crypto bloodbath marks the second consecutive weekend wherein crypto prices were affected negatively by Trump-related tariff announcements.
On the other hand, the 24-hour liquidations this time were much smaller when compared to the previous weekend’s losses of over $2 billion. So far in the last day, over $247 million has been liquidated from the crypto market, CoinGlass data showed.
Why Trump’s Impending EU Tariffs are Hurting Crypto
Crypto is a global market that has seen increasing interest from various regions. In the European Union, there is an apparent growing interest.
Europe is the second-largest crypto economy in the world, only behind the U.S., accounting for 17.6% of the world’s transaction volume. Some of the world’s key crypto players have expanded services in the bloc due to the openness of some countries.
Financial analysts said Europe’s transaction volume growth was mostly driven by declining trading activity in Asia and other regions, where crypto regulations are more stringent.
It appears the crypto market understands that Trump’s tariffs on European goods would have ramifications across the broader financial market, and in turn, it may be causing concern for some European crypto holders.
It remains to be seen how crypto will react once Trump announces the official tariffs, but based on how the market moved with just a warning, crypto holders may need to brace themselves for a wilder, bloodier ride.
