Why is crypto market down? US President Donald Trump’s announcement of a 100% tariff on “any and all critical software” imports from China triggered a crypto bloodbath, with Ethereum and most other cryptocurrencies seeing steep falls.
At 6:10 am, Bitcoin declined 7.60 per cent to $1,12,592.31, while Ethereum fell 12.24 per cent to $3845.92, according to CoinMarketCap data. The world’s largest cryptocurrency saw $9.5 billion in liquidations after failing to hold support at the $120,000 level, the CoinMarketCap analysis showed.
Top 5 Crypto tokens
At 6:45 am, Bitcoin was down 8.40% to $111,841.14, with its market cap falling 8.12% to $2.23 trillion.
Ethereum, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency, dropped 15.62% to $3,792.31, and its market cap fell 13.81% to $456.97 billion.
Tether slipped 0.1% to $1, with its market cap down 0.28% to $178.97 billion.
Binance Coin declined 6.6% to $1,094.09, while its market cap dropped 12.91% to $152.27 billion.
XRP fell 22.85% to $2.33, with a market cap decline of 16.31% to $140.19 billion.
Why is crypto market down? What did Trump say?
Trump said on Friday that starting November 1, 2025, the US will place a 100 per cent tariff on Chinese goods “over and above any tariff that they are currently paying.” He added that export controls on critical software would also come into effect that day.
“Based on the fact that China has taken this unprecedented position, and speaking only for the USA, and not other Nations who were similarly threatened, starting November 1, 2025 (or sooner, depending on any further actions or changes taken by China), the United States of America will impose a Tariff of 100% on China, over and above any Tariff that they are currently paying. Also on November 1, we will impose Export Controls on any and all critical software,” the US President said in a post on Truth Social on Friday.
Trump made the announcement in response to what he described as China taking “an extraordinarily aggressive position on trade” by sending “an extremely hostile letter to the world.”
“It has just been learned that China has taken an extraordinarily aggressive position on Trade in sending an extremely hostile letter to the World, stating that they were going to, effective November 1, 2025, impose large scale Export Controls on virtually every product they make, and some not even made by them. This affects ALL Countries, without exception, and was obviously a plan devised by them years ago. It is absolutely unheard of in International Trade, and a moral disgrace in dealing with other Nations,” Trump said.
“It is impossible to believe that China would have taken such an action, but they have, and the rest is History. Thank you for your attention to this matter,” he added.
This move comes after China increased restrictions on rare earth exports, added more items to its control list, and extended limits to cover production technologies and overseas uses, including in the military and semiconductor industries.
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