- Bitcoin fell sharply on Thursday.
- The plunge coincided with a wider market wipeout.
Bitcoin is down below $89,000. Again.
On Thursday, the top cryptocurrency plunged about 2% to hit $88,020. The total crypto market is down 3% over the past 12 hours to just over $3 trillion.
The plunge coincided with Nasdaq crashing over 2% as Wall Street digests a barrage of tariff-related headlines.
The US dollar fell as Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that the US planned to soften tariffs against Canada and Mexico, Bloomberg reported.
Traders had already been reeling from stop-and-go tariff threats — the president had already softened the tariffs to not include the auto industry.
“There’s too much unpredictability and chaos coming out of the White House right now,” Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said Wednesday. She described US trade policy as a “psychodrama.”
The move comes amid mixed US labour data and a critical payrolls report that will gauge the health of the US economy.
Adding to the carnage, markets also saw a selloff of several technology shares, including Nvidia.
Bitcoin’s drop came a day ahead of Donald Trump’s much-touted crypto summit, where he’ll be hosting some of the biggest names in the industry.
The president is expected to announce more details of his planned national crypto reserve at the event.
Trump originally promised to create a Bitcoin reserve on the campaign trail, but amended the proposal to be a broader crypto reserve in a sweeping executive order in January.
Bitcoin’s price dropped as low as $79,800 in February — making it the worst month since 2022— on the back of market uncertainty caused by Trump policies, memecoin scandals, and the $1.5 billion Bybit hack.
Eric Johansson is DL News’ News Editor. Got a tip? Email at eric@dlnews.com.