Bitcoin Plunges $8K Amid ByBit Hack, Trump Tariffs

Bitcoin's price has been declining for the past week, with a significant drop of around $8,000, bringing it to a three-month low. The initial trigger for this rout was a $1.5 billion hack of the popular exchange ByBit, which negatively impacted sentiment towards cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin fell by 3.6% to $88,706.9 by 00:51 ET (05:51 GMT), with the crypto having fallen as low as $86,000. This decline occurred despite MicroStrategy announcing a purchase of an additional $2 billion worth of Bitcoin, the world's largest corporate holder of the cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin's price movement has been closely tracking the decline in other risk-driven markets, particularly U.S. stocks. Sentiment has soured amid a storm of negative factors, including U.S. President Donald Trump's threat to impose more tariffs. Trump raised the prospect of tariffs on copper imports and stated that his 25% duties on Canada and Mexico will take effect from next week. Additionally, crypto markets have been grappling with the prospect of a U.S. economic slowdown, as indicated by weak readings on consumer sentiment, which points to softer private consumption, a major driver of the U.S. economy.

U.S.-listed Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have seen near-record capital outflows this week, with investors pulling out en masse from risk-driven, speculative assets. Data from SoSoValue showed that spot Bitcoin ETFs saw an outflow of $1.01 billion on Tuesday, their biggest single-day outflow since March 2024. This reflects a heavy degree of profit-taking among institutional investors, as they track steep declines in Bitcoin's price. The crypto has now given up all gains made since Trump's election victory in early November. Fidelity's Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund and BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF saw the single biggest one-day outflows, of $344.7 million and $164.4 million, respectively.

Broader crypto prices steadied from recent losses on Thursday, although sentiment remained frail. World no.2 crypto Ether rose by 0.5% to $2,492.69, while XRP rose by 1.9% to $2.2923. Solana