Bitcoin drops below $90,000, over $100 billion wiped out from crypto market: Why is the cryptocurrency down today?

Bitcoin (BTC) dropped below $90,000 on Tuesday, extending the cryptocurrency market’s downturn amid US President Donald Trump’s anticipation of US tariffs on Mexico and Canada starting on March 4.

The uncertainty over the impact of the impending tariffs on global trade led many investors to reduce exposure to risky bets, causing the crypto market to drop by approximately 8 per cent. Bitcoin fell below the $90,000 mark, wiping out more than $230 billion from the total cryptocurrency market capitalisation.

Other cryptos in meltdown mode

Ether and several prominent altcoins, including Solana and Dogecoin, also continued to face selling pressure as investors shifted their focus elsewhere, with the crypto market still recovering from its largest-ever hack last week.

Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation after Bitcoin, has declined over 10 per cent in the past two days, extending its sharp decline from earlier in the week during Asian trading hours on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Solana has dropped approximately 15 per cent over the same period, while Dogecoin has declined by about 13 per cent.

“Crypto is just weak and has been for eight weeks. Equities, fixed income, and gold have completely shrugged off any data points that have been used to explain weakness in crypto. Only crypto is going lower. And that’s largely due to poor sentiment, exploitation from various meme coin failures, and lack of capital to support new token launches,” Jeff Dorman, chief investment officer at Arca, was quoted as saying by Bloomberg.

As of 8:26 a.m. Tuesday in Hong Kong, Bitcoin had fallen 2.2% to approximately $91,902. However, the cryptocurrency found some support after Strategy announced on Monday that it had invested nearly $2 billion in Bitcoin over the past week.

Ether continued to face pressure despite crypto exchange Bybit pledging to fully restore the estimated $1.4 billion lost to hackers last week. Bybit reportedly borrowed and purchased some Ether, as indicated in a repost on X by CEO Ben Zhou.

Shares of crypto-related companies also declined. Coinbase Global Inc. extended its losing streak to six consecutive days, while MicroStrategy dropped about 5.7%, putting it in negative territory for the year. Bitcoin miner MARA Holdings Inc. fell 5.3% on Monday, following a 13% decline the previous week.

(With inputs from Bloomberg)

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