Bitcoin Nears $81K; XRP, ADA Slide as Traders Brace for Tariff War Escalation

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By Shaurya Malwa, Sam Reynolds

Updated Mar 31, 2025, 4:52 a.m. UTCPublished Mar 31, 2025, 4:51 a.m. UTC

  • Bitcoin value dropped to just over $81,500 in Asian morning hours Monday, with major tokens like XRP, Cardano’s ADA, Solana’s SOL, dogecoin (DOGE), and ether (ETH) also experiencing losses.
  • Stock markets opened lower for the fourth consecutive day due to global anticipation of President Donald Trump’s upcoming announcement of new tariffs, set to be revealed on April 2.
  • Safe-haven assets like gold reached an all-time high, and U.S. Treasury yields dropped due to increased demand, as portfolio managers globally adopt cautious strategies in light of potential economic fallout from the impending tariffs.

Bitcoin traders just over $81,500 in Asian morning hours Monday as a weekend slide saw major tokens lose momentum on last week’s brief rally.

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XRP and Cardano’s ADA led losses among majors with a 5% drop in the past 24 hours, with Solana’s SOL, dogecoin (DOGE) and ether (ETH) down between 2-3%. Stock markets opened lower Monday, their fourth consecutive day of decline, as investors around the globe brace for President Donald Trump’s upcoming announcement of new tariffs, set to be revealed on April 2, amid growing fears of a global trade war’s economic fallout.

Futures for U.S. and European stock indexes also fell. In contrast, safe-haven assets like gold reached an all-time high, and U.S. Treasury yields dropped due to increased demand.

Globally, portfolio managers are adopting cautious strategies, either reducing risk or avoiding large investments, unsettled by the impending “reciprocal tariffs” and their potential economic toll.

Shaurya is the Co-Leader of the CoinDesk tokens and data team in Asia with a focus on crypto derivatives, DeFi, market microstructure, and protocol analysis.
Shaurya holds over $1,000 in BTC, ETH, SOL, AVAX, SUSHI, CRV, NEAR, YFI, YFII, SHIB, DOGE, USDT, USDC, BNB, MANA, MLN, LINK, XMR, ALGO, VET, CAKE, AAVE, COMP, ROOK, TRX, SNX, RUNE, FTM, ZIL, KSM, ENJ, CKB, JOE, GHST, PERP, BTRFLY, OHM, BANANA, ROME, BURGER, SPIRIT, and ORCA.
He provides over $1,000 to liquidity pools on Compound, Curve, SushiSwap, PancakeSwap, BurgerSwap, Orca, AnySwap, SpiritSwap, Rook Protocol, Yearn Finance, Synthetix, Harvest, Redacted Cartel, OlympusDAO, Rome, Trader Joe, and SUN.

Shaurya Malwa

Sam Reynolds is a senior reporter based in Asia. Sam was part of the CoinDesk team that won the 2023 Gerald Loeb award in the breaking news category for coverage of FTX’s collapse. Prior to CoinDesk, he was a reporter with Blockworks and a semiconductor analyst with IDC.

Sam Reynolds


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