title: It's the dip that keeps on dipping

Bitcoin took another hit early Friday, falling below $80,000 and taking February's decline to over 20%

It's the dip that keeps on dipping.

Bitcoin took another hit early Friday, falling below $80,000 and February's decline to over 20%. That spurred a bloodbath in the broader crypto market, with ether sliding below $2,100, a level it managed to hold since August.

It's not just crypto.

The threat of U.S. President Donald Trump imposing tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China saw traders rotating out of riskier assets, leading to a sell-off in growth-sensitive commodity currencies, such as the Australian, New Zealand and Canadian dollars.

These moves, which saw the VIX, or Wall Street's so-called fear gauge, rise by 14%, are also putting pressure on the administration to quickly carry out the reciprocal tariff plan, which is meant to align U.S. trade duties with those of other nations.

"U.S. domestic policies have become unstable, and the White House seems happy to take advantage of this instability," said Griffin Ardern, head of options trading and research at crypto financial platform BloFin. "Given the challenges investors face in obtaining accurate forward-looking guidance, many are more inclined to hold low-volatility assets such as the dollar or U.S. bonds.

"At the same time, traders need to liquidate positions to reduce their exposure to specific assets before transitioning to other markets, which explains the decline across almost all asset classes, including cryptocurrencies."

These moves saw the 30-day implied volatility in bitcoin, which is tracked by Volmex BVIV, rise by 10%, while the MOVE index, which measures the implied volatility of U.S. Treasury notes, saw an equal increase.

This volatility looks set to remain heightened, with President Trump reportedly scheduled to speak later on Friday.

This volatility looks set to remain heightened, with President Trump reportedly scheduled to speak later on Friday.

In the meantime, those hoping for a significant rebound in risk assets based on personal consumption data may be disappointed because anticipated soft readings could be overshadowed by tariff concerns and rising forward-looking inflation metrics.

But while the outlook may seem gloomy, there were some more positive developments to report once the macro dust settles.

Namely, this week saw the SEC drop charges against Uniswap, one of the leading decentralized exchanges, and mull doing the same regarding its issues with Consensys.

As Evgeny Gaevoy, CEO of leading market maker Wintermute, pointed out at Consensus Hong Kong last week, many are overlooking the evolving attitude of the SEC, and this is a factor the market has yet to fully price in.

As Evgeny Gaevoy, CEO of leading market maker Wintermute, pointed out at Consensus Hong Kong last week, many are overlooking the evolving attitude of the SEC, and this is a factor the market has yet to fully price in.

Plus, the decline in the basis in the CME bitcoin and ether futures, a sign of weakening demand, has stalled and from a technical analysis perspective, bitcoin is fast closing toward a potential demand zone. So, stay alert!What to WatchCrypto:March 1: Spot trading on the Arkham Exchange goes live in 17 U.S. states.

March 5, 2:29 a.m.: Ethereum testnet Sepolia gets the Pectra hard fork network upgrade at epoch 222464.

March 15: Athene Network (ATH) mainnet launch.

March 24, 11:00 a.m.: Bugis network upgrade goes live on Enjin Matrixchain mainnet.

Macro

Feb. 28, 8:30 a.m.: The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis releases January personal consumption and expenditure data.

Core PCE Price Index MoM Est. 0.3% vs. Prev. 0.2%

Core PCE Price Index YoY Est. 2.6% vs. Prev. 2.8%

PCE Price Index MoM Est. 0.3% vs. Prev. 0.3%

PCE Price Index YoY Est. 2.5% vs. Prev. 2.6%

Personal Income MoM Est. 0.3% vs. Prev. 0.4%

Personal Spending MoM Est. 0.1% vs. Prev. 0.7%

March 2, 8:45 p.m.: Caixin and S&P Global release February China manufacturing data.

Manufacturing PMI Prev. 50.1

EarningsMarch 6 (TBC): Bitfarms (BITF), $-0.04

March 17 (TBC): Bit Digital (BTDIGITAL), $-0.05

March 18 (TBC): TeraWulf (WULF), $-0.03

March 24 (TBC): Galaxy Digital (TSE:GLXY), C$0.38Token EventsGovernances votes & calls

Sky DAO is discussing the reduction of the Smart Burn Engine activity, which would effectively reduce the rate of SKY token buybacks from around 1 million USDS to 400,000