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Bitcoin held its head above water after China retaliated against President Donald Trump’s tariffs, while stocks continued to crater following their worst day since 2020.
The price of the flagship cryptocurrency was last higher by 1.7% at $83,396.89 on Friday, according to Coin Metrics. Most of the flagship cryptocurrencies were also in the green Friday.
Crypto-related stocks fell again, however, with Coinbase down about 8%, MicroStrategy rose less than 1%. Meanwhile, spot gold fell 2.5% to $3,041.09 an ounce, while U.S. gold futures were down 1.79% at $3,063.50.
Investors were rattled for a second day after China’s commerce ministry on Friday said the country will impose a 34% levy on all U.S. products, matching the tariff Trump revealed Wednesday on Chinese goods coming into the U.S.
“Tariffs do affect the cost for U.S. builders, where inflation and higher goods cost make all this more expensive, presumably encouraging more capital flows and investment to Asia,” said James Davies, CEO at crypto derivatives trading platform Crypto Valley Exchange. “The tariffs are reshaping global trade away from the U.S., reducing dollar reliance, changing funding rates and decoupling the U.S. … they impact everything, but crypto is robust. As its decentralized nature indicates, it should be a winner from this, even if the outcome for U.S.-domiciled crypto entities is much less clear.”
Bitcoin (BTC) this week
Bitcoin has been showing resilience relative to equities, holding above key technical support signals strong underlying demand, according to David Hernandez, crypto investment specialist at 21Shares.
Despite recent market volatility, bitcoin’s price has been confined to the $80,000 to $90,000 range for most of the past month, as investors take cues from the equities market absent a crypto-specific catalyst.
Bitcoin slipped on Thursday in the initial market reaction to Trump’s sweeping tariffs announcement, but its move was small relative to most stocks and stayed between $81,000 and $83,000.
“Crypto broadly is effected by funding rates and spare capital – if money is being held because of volatility and tariff needs, then it impacts crypto, investment, speculation, and location,” Davies said.
“It’s important to recall that the U.S. accounts for only around 20% of crypto trading, and the world often carries on without the U.S.,” he added. “Bitcoin has become a ready source of liquidity and has become a canary in the coalmine of sorts as it relates to global liquidity – it responds first but also rebounds first.”
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