The broader cryptocurrency market experienced a steep selloff early Monday, as Bitcoin and major altcoins faced sharp losses. The drop coincides with President Trump’s new tariff measures, which have sparked widespread declines in Asian stock markets.
Bitcoin Dips Below $75K, Triggering Liquidations
Bitcoin dipped below the $75,000 mark, reaching its lowest point since November. The slide follows the announcement of aggressive U.S. tariffs targeting Asian economies, which led to panic in financial markets and dragged down crypto prices. According to CoinGecko, the selloff was especially brutal for major altcoins.
Ethereum suffered a 17% drop, trading under $1,400 for the first time since March 2023. The sudden decline led to the forced liquidation of a prominent Ethereum whale, who reportedly lost more than $100 million.
XRP also faced a 16% loss, sinking to $1.70 and seeing its market cap fall to $102 million. This drop pushed it out of the top three crypto assets by market cap. Solana and Dogecoin matched XRP’s decline at 16%, while Cardano slipped by 15%.
Altcoins Feel the Heat, but Some Tokens Show Resilience
While most altcoins experienced steep declines, Binance Coin (BNB) and TRON (TRX) were less affected, showing losses of 8% and 6% respectively. Nevertheless, the total cryptocurrency market cap shrank by over 10%, wiping out roughly $100 billion in value within just ten hours. It now stands at around $2.5 trillion.
Asian Stock Markets Mirror Crypto Turmoil
The crash in crypto markets mirrored sharp declines across Asia’s equity markets. Taiwan’s benchmark index dropped nearly 10%, marking its biggest one-day fall since 1990. Major Taiwanese firms like TSMC and Foxconn were hit hard, falling close to 10% and prompting automatic trading halts.
Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) responded swiftly with short-selling restrictions to mitigate the selloff. However, the contagion spread across the region: Japan’s Nikkei fell over 8%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 12%, and China’s CSI 300 Index declined 7%. South Korea’s Kospi fell more than 5%, briefly triggering a circuit breaker, while Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell nearly 8%.
Australia and New Zealand weren’t spared either, with the ASX 200 down 6.3% and the NZX 50 dropping 3.5%.
Arthur Hayes Bullish on Bitcoin, Wary of Altcoins
As markets tumbled, Arthur Hayes, co-founder and former CEO of BitMEX, revealed he’s been quietly accumulating Bitcoin amid the chaos. “Been nibbling on $BTC all day, and shall continue,” Hayes said, confirming his confidence in the asset.
He cautioned, however, against diving headfirst into altcoins. “Shitcoins are getting in our strike zone,” he remarked, “but I think #bitcoin dominance keeps zooming towards 70%. So we are not gorging at the shitcoin supermarket.”
Hayes remains bullish on Bitcoin due to ongoing monetary stimulus from global central banks responding to economic slowdowns. In his view, these interventions could continue to fuel Bitcoin’s dominance over the broader crypto space.