It’s been a rough day for crypto holders – and if you’re reading this with a nervous glance at your portfolio, you’re definitely not alone.
But before you start blaming Bitcoin or Ethereum or whatever coin you’re into right now, let’s make one thing clear: crypto is not the problem today. What’s happening is a much bigger, more political storm – and we all just got caught in it.
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Liberation Day
Yesterday, Donald Trump announced a sweeping new wave of tariffs targeting over 60 countries. He called it “Liberation Day”, but to the markets, it felt more like the beginning of something a lot more dangerous – a trade war that nobody wants.
China, the European Union, Taiwan, France, Canada, and Japan are all on the receiving end of these tariffs. And as expected, none of them are taking it quietly. Several are already talking about their own retaliatory tariffs, and there’s word that the EU might respond as a bloc.
Things are getting tense fast. And while it’s impossible to know how far this might go, what we’re already seeing is a full-blown panic – not just in crypto, but in traditional markets too.
A Global Sell-Off
Wall Street is deep in red today. The S&P 500 lost almost 5%, the NASDAQ fell 6%, and those are the worst daily drops we’ve seen since 2020. Over in Europe, the STOXX 600 slid 2.5%, and Japan’s Nikkei dropped 2.7%. That’s not “just a correction” territory anymore.
And when fear takes over, investors retreat. They start pulling out of stocks, high-growth funds, altcoins, and basically anything that isn’t nailed down. It’s not that they believe these assets are worthless. They just don’t want to be holding anything risky when the future suddenly looks this uncertain.
Crypto Gets Caught in the Crossfire
Of course, crypto got hit too. And again – not because it deserves it.
Cryptocurrencies aren’t subject to tariffs. There’s no blockchain-based industry getting targeted. Yet Bitcoin is down nearly 3%, Ethereum too. Solana’s down 8%, hitting its lowest point in over a year. XRP briefly dipped under $2.
Smaller altcoins are even more struggling, with Pi Network, TRUMP, and Hyperliquid seeing double-digit losses. The entire crypto market cap fell by almost 4% in a single day.
Read also: Pi Crashes 18% And Sets All-Time Low – Has the Market Given Up?
This Isn’t About Fundamentals
It’s important to remember – nothing about this sell-off reflects anything real about crypto itself. The technology didn’t fail. The networks didn’t go down. There weren’t any hacks or major legal actions.
If anything, we’re still on a relatively positive trajectory: altcoin ETFs have been acknowledged, the new U.S. administration is way more open to crypto, and institutional adoption is growing.
But when there’s panic in the air, people don’t look at fundamentals. They just sell. And crypto, being one of the riskiest types of assets, gets sold off faster than almost anything else.
What Happens Next?
That’s the part nobody can answer. Will the U.S. add even more tariffs? Will other countries retaliate harder? Could we really be heading into a recession or even stagflation? These are not questions with simple answers.
What we do know is that this kind of global tension almost always spills into financial markets. And right now, crypto is getting lumped in with everything else. There’s a kind of collective bracing happening – people preparing for the worst, even if they’re not sure what that actually looks like.
Don’t Lose Sight of the Bigger Picture
If you’re feeling discouraged right now, that’s valid. Watching your investments drop in value never feels good. But take a second to zoom out.
The projects you believed in yesterday haven’t changed. The innovation, the use cases, the long-term potential – all of that is still here. Crypto didn’t cause this mess, and it probably won’t fix it either. But once the storm settles, it will still be around. The same can’t be said for every sector of the economy.
Yes, things are bad today. They might be worse tomorrow. But if you’re here because you believe in the technology, or because you see long-term potential, try not to get shaken out by something that has absolutely nothing to do with crypto itself.
