Cryptocurrency prices plunged on Monday, with bitcoin at a three-week low and ether at its lowest since early September, as the threat of a global trade war unsettled investors and pushed them out of riskier assets.
Bitcoin, the world’s largest and most popular cryptocurrency, fell to $94,476.18 on Monday morning in Asia, hitting a three-week low of around $91,441.89. Smaller cryptocurrency ether fell about 24% and is back to levels last seen in early September. It last reached $2,494.33.
Over the weekend, US President Donald Trump imposed tariffs of 25% on imports from Mexico and most of Canada, and 10% on goods from China, starting Tuesday.
Canada and Mexico, two of the U.S.'s top trading partners, immediately vowed to retaliate, and China said it would oppose Trump's levies at the World Trade Organization.
Cryptocurrencies trade around the clock, including on weekends, and have recently been sensitive to broader market sentiment. Investors worry that tariffs could hurt corporate growth and earnings and could fuel inflation.
"Crypto is really the only way to express risk over the weekend, and on news like this, crypto uses a proxy for risk,"
Trump - who once called crypto a scam - embraced digital assets during his campaign, promising to make the United States the "crypto capital of the planet."
Last month, Trump ordered the creation of a cryptocurrency working group tasked with proposing new digital asset regulations and exploring the creation of a national cryptocurrency reserve.
#BitcoinVsTariffs $BTC
