United States President Donald Trump has contributed to one of the worst-performing quarters in ‘crypto’ history

United States President Donald Trump has contributed to one of the worst-performing quarters in ‘crypto’ history, and even some of his staunchest crypto defenders are having buyer's remorse.

The first quarter of the year saw one of the worst-performing periods in recent ‘crypto’ history, with even some of President Donald Trump’s staunchest crypto defenders having buyer’s remorse.

After the stock market tanked last week following Trump’s imposition of steep economic tariffs, crypto bros like Gemini co-founder Tyler Winklevoss pointed to the BTC token’s deviation from this downward spiral as proof that BTC had finally decoupled from its link to other risky assets and was now firmly enshrined as ‘digital gold.’ Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent went as far as to declare BTC to be a secure ‘store of value’ in turbulent times.

However, that triumphalist narrative lasted only until Sunday, when BTC abruptly tanked from ~$83,000 to below $78,000. The carnage continued early Monday, falling below $75,000—roughly one-third off its $109,000 peak in the euphoric aftermath of Trump’s re-election—before staging a minor rally. When it comes to digital assets, America has indeed gotten tired of all this winning.

Even before Monday’s plunge, BTC finished Q1 down 11.7% from the start of the year. That’s the worst Q1 performance BTC has endured in percentage terms since 2015 when the token fell nearly 24% over the first three months.

Michael Saylor’s Strategy (NASDAQ:MSTR), formerly known as MicroStrategy, filed a Q1 earnings preview with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday that showed the unrealized losses on its ‘BTC reserve’ totaled $5.9 billion for the quarter. The average purchase price of the 528,185 BTC that Strategy has acquired in recent years is $67,458, meaning any further significant BTC price declines could prompt awkward questions regarding Strategy’s strategy.

And it’s not just BTC taking it on the chin. On February 3, Trump’s son, Eric, tweeted that “it’s a great time to add $ETH.” At the time, Ethereum’s native token had taken a significant tumble to $2,460. As of Monday morning, ETH was trading below $1,560. (Make Ethereum great again?)

Even the memecoin ($TRUMP) that the president issued just days before his inauguration is struggling. $TRUMP came close to slipping below $7 on Monday, a world away from its all-time high of $73.43 on January 19. Its current valuation of just under $8 is a mere 89.3% decline from its peak.

And yet, Trump is accepting pre-orders for yet another limited-run (1,000 pairs) sneaker collection, this one branded with the “most legendary $TRUMP meme COIN $TRUMP in crypto.” For the low, low price of $299, you too can own these ‘Made in China’ kicks before the Trump tariffs on China push the price even higher.

Tether’s Made in USA backup plan

The Trump-induced decline in both crypto and traditional stocks has prompted infighting among some prominent Trump supporters. Billionaire Bill Ackman, who strongly advocated for Trump during the 2024 election campaign, lashed out at Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Sunday for being “indifferent to the stock market and the economy crashing” because the Lutnick-founded Cantor Fitzgerald (NYSE:ZCFITX) is long bonds. “[Lutnick] profits when our economy implodes.”

Ackman walked back that accusation early Monday morning, tweeting that it was “unfair of me to lash out” at Lutnick, who Ackman (for the time being) believes is “doing the best he can.” Perhaps, but for whom?

Lutnick is a staunch supporter of Tether, issuer of the market-leading USDT stablecoin, because Cantor Fitzgerald (a) allegedly custodies Tether’s allegedly massive haul of U.S. Treasury bills, and (b) holds a ‘convertible bond’ with Tether. Moreover, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported last November that Lutnick had allegedly promised Tether’s founder that he’d work to ensure no legislation emerged from Congress that might be prejudicial to Tether’s bottom line.

Stablecoin legislation has made unprecedented progress in Congress during Trump’s second term, with both Senate and House committees voting to send their respective bills to their respective floors for a vote.

The House bill (STABLE) offers Tether a window of up to two years in which it would be permitted to carry on its U.S. operations on ‘secondary markets’ such as digital asset exchanges. After that, Tether would need to subject itself to requirements such as proving that the fiat reserves backing its $144 billion in