It’s an understatement to say that cryptocurrency investors have not had a great week. Tokens across the board have seen double-digit falls, slashing thousands from their individual values. However, one of the most affected coins this week is also the world’s most popular cryptocurrency: Bitcoin.
In the past five days alone, Bitcoin’s value has dropped more than 16%, and today, the coin fell below an important psychological barrier. Here’s what you need to know about the likely reasons why Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are dropping.
Bitcoin falls below $80,000
In early trading this morning, Bitcoin fell below the psychologically important $80,000 barrier. At the time of this writing, it is currently trading at around $79,900 per coin, though it had dropped to as low as around $78,400 earlier.
When Bitcoin moves across a notable barrier like $60,000 or $100,000 (any increment of $10,000), it generally causes one of two reactions. If its move is increasing past the barrier, this tends to send optimism through the hearts of investors—How high can it go? However, if its move falls under the barrier, this tends to generate fear and pessimism—How low can it go?
What is startling about Bitcoin’s fall is that the coin was trading above $95,000 at the beginning of this week. But by Tuesday, Bitcoin had fallen below the $90,000 threshold. Now, just three days later, Bitcoin has fallen below $80,000.
That means that as of the time of this writing, Bitcoin has lost about 16% of its value in the last five days alone. But it has gotten worse when looking out over the last month. During that time, Bitcoin lost more than 20% of its value. Bitcoin hasn’t traded this low since shortly after President Trump won the election in November 2024.
But it’s not just Bitcoin that is falling.
Ethereum, XRP, DOGE, and TRUMP all down
As of the time of this writing, other major cryptocurrencies and popular meme coins have all been down by a significant amount in the past day, according to data from Yahoo Finance and CoinMarketCap.
- Ethereum is down over 9% in the past 24 hours (and down over 24% in the past five days).
- XRP is down over 8.6% in the past 24 hours (and down over 20% in the past five days)
- Solana is down over 4% in the past 24 hours (and down over 20% in the past five days)
- Dogecoin is down over 10% in the past 24 hours (and down over 23% in the past five days)
- Official Trump is down over 13% in the past 24 hours (and down over 33% in the past seven days)
Why are Bitcoin and other crypto dropping?
When major assets drop, the first thing people want to know is “why?” Unfortunately, there are no firm answers to that, but there are two likely reasons why Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are seeing increased downward pressure this week.
The first is Trump’s tariffs. The president says he plans to levy tariffs on goods coming into the United States from many of America’s major trading partners, including Mexico, Canada, China, and EU member states.
Those countries, in turn, are expected to retaliate with tariffs on American goods, which could result in an all-out trade war that leads to higher prices for consumers, more rapid inflation, and reduced household discretionary spending.
In other words, people are worried that Trump’s tariffs could negatively affect the economy. When the economy faces headwinds, investors tend to pull out of riskier and more volatile assets—like cryptocurrencies—in favor of placing their money into more stable assets.
The second reason that may be contributing to crypto’s fall this week is the ByBit hack from earlier this month that saw hackers steal $1.5 billion worth of cryptocurrencies.
That heist, which is believed to be the largest ever crypto heist, has rattled crypto investors, making many feel that their cryptocurrency investments aren’t as secure as other investments, like stocks and properties.
In other words, recent significant events are working against crypto’s favor. As for where Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies go from here, that’s anyone’s guess.
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