Bitcoin and Crypto Prices Are Braced for a Shake-Up as Trump Prepares to Drop His "Liberation Day" Tariffs

The bitcoin price is trading around $85,000 per bitcoin, down from a Trump inauguration peak of almost $110,000 per bitcoin as the bitcoin price rally over the last year fuels a new, mystery threat.

U.S. president Donald Trump is poised to drop an "atomic bomb" on the bitcoin price and crypto market today with the latest installment of his global trade tariff plans.

Trump’s “Liberation Day” is going to be an atomic bomb on the current markets—and crypto isn’t safe in the immediate term, ” Zach Burks, the chief executive of non-fungible token (NFT) company Mintology, said in emailed comments.

“It is becoming clearer that bitcoin is the retail investor doomsday asset of choice, whereas gold is the institutional haven—especially given the ‘soft power’ Trump currently holds on crypto assets,” Burks said, referring to Trump’s promise to create a U.S. bitcoin reserve and crypto stockpile as well as his growing crypto business interests in the form of World Liberty Financial and Trump Media and Technology Group.

The bitcoin price and wider crypto market were seen trading in the red on Wednesday, with traders remaining on the sidelines ahead of Trump’s so-called Liberation Day of global trade tariffs, which he will unveil in a show-stopping season finale manner during a White House Rose Garden press conference at 4pm ET.

“Bitcoin investors have been bracing for today’s announcement, so a price drop comes as no surprise,” Gadi Chait, investment manager at Xapo Bank, said via email after the bitcoin price dropped from last week’s highs of almost $90,000.

“Uncertainty breeds caution in all markets, and crypto is experiencing a tension between short-term speculation, slow-moving policy shifts, and institutional pullback. When fears of inflation driven by tariff uncertainty rise, crypto suffers in the short term. In the past few weeks, bitcoin has been trading within a wide range of $76,600 to $94,500. If prices break decisively below $76,600, it could signal a significant shift in market sentiment.”

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Burks added that traders should “expect mass drop-offs with ethereum tanking to $1,600 and the bitcoin price below $80,000 as retaliations to tariffs come through.”

However, looking further ahead, Burks expects the bitcoin price to outperform as “the rules of international trade” are rewritten.

“The outcome for crypto will be positive. Bitcoin prices will rocket in the long term, as institutional investors move capital away from increasingly unstable U.S.-led institutions.”