Bitcoins
Bitcoins Topline
The price of bitcoin dropped below $80,000 Friday, its lowest level since last November, amid a crypto selloff that has wiped out nearly all of the token’s post-election gains as concerns mount about the economic impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Bitcoin’s price has fallen more than 25% from its all-time high on Trump’s inauguration day.
Bitcoins Key Facts
The price of bitcoin, the world’s most valuable cryptocurrency, stood at $78,949 early on Friday—after falling more than 8.5% over the past 24 hours.
In the past seven days, bitcoin’s price has plummeted nearly 20%.
Bitcoin’s slump comes amid a wider crypto market selloff, with the price of Ether—the second most valuable token by market cap—dropping more than 11% in the past 24 hours to around $2,100.
The price of the Ripple Labs-linked XRP, Binance’s BNB and Solana’s SOL have tanked 9.2%, 7.3% and 9% respectively in the past day.
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Bitcoins Big Number
27.3%. That is how much the price of bitcoin has dropped since it hit an all-time high of $109,114 on Jan. 20, the day of President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Bitcoins Key Background
The crypto market selloff comes on the backdrop of a major crypto exchange hack and concerns about the economic impact of Trump’s tariffs. Last week, hackers managed to steal Ether holdings worth nearly $1.5 billion from the exchange Bybit—the largest ever cryptocurrency heist. On Wednesday, the FBI accused North Korea-backed hacker groups, TraderTraitor and the Lazarus Group, of carrying out the theft. The agency said the hackers were “proceeding rapidly and have converted some of the stolen assets to Bitcoin and…It is expected these assets will be further laundered and eventually converted to fiat currency.”
Bitcoins Tangent
Trump’s official meme coin, launched just days before his inauguration, has also continued its downward slide amid the market wide rout. On Friday, the price of the $TRUMP meme coin fell to $11.30—a nearly 15% drop in the past 24 hours and 85% below its all-time high of around $75. The token peaked just two days after its official launch, with $TRUMP’s market cap briefly crossing $15 billion, but its price has steadily declined since then. The $TRUMP launch appeared to spur other world leaders to boost similar meme tokens. Earlier this month, Argentinian President Javier Milei promoted $LIBRA token, causing its market cap to surge to $4 billion, before early backers began dumping their holdings. The following crash in LIBRA’s price, which appeared to resemble a pump-and-dump scheme, has triggered lawsuits against the Argentine leader. In a similar move, the president of the Central African Republic—one of Africa’s poorest nations—launched a CAR meme token to raise his country’s profile. The coin’s value has slumped by more than 97% since its launch.
Bitcoins Further Reading
Bitcoin Slips Below $90,000—Down Nearly 20% From Trump’s Inauguration Day All-Time High (Forbes)
Siladitya Ray Read More