The announcement of President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs resulted in a staggering $5.4 trillion loss in U.S. stock market value over just two days. The S&P 500 fell to its lowest level in nearly a year, while the Nasdaq 100 plunged into bear market territory.
Nonetheless, in the midst of this turmoil, cryptocurrency values have demonstrated remarkable resilience. Bitcoin (BTC) saw a decline of about 6% since the tariff announcement, a smaller drop compared to the Nasdaq’s 11% decline. The overall cryptocurrency market, as indicated by the CoinDesk 20 index (CD20), experienced roughly a 4.9% decrease in the same timeframe.
For context, the total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies stands at around $2.65 trillion, based on data from TheTie. In the past 24 hours, bitcoin fell 0.3% to $82,619.77, while the wider CD20 index actually rose by about 0.2%. When the market closed on Friday, many cryptocurrency-related stocks decreased in value, yet a few saw gains.
MARA Holdings (MARA), a bitcoin miner, increased by 0.6%, and Core Scientific (CORZ) gained 0.4%. MicroStrategy (MSTR), which holds 528,185 BTC on its balance sheet, saw a hefty 4% rise, notably outperforming the Nasdaq, which suffered a 5.8% drop that day.
The cryptocurrency market is expected to retain its strength. Due to the increasing accessibility of digital assets through conventional investment instruments like exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and their notable performance, they might serve as a protective measure against traditional finance risks, as noted by Geoffrey Kendrick from Standard Chartered.
“Given the recent developments, we might also consider ‘U.S. isolation’ as another potential use case for bitcoin,” Kendrick mentioned in an email on April 4, sharing a chart that indicated only Microsoft outperformed BTC among the top Magnificent 7 stocks during the downturn.
This durability in the face of challenges coincides with the crypto community’s celebration of the alleged birthday of bitcoin’s enigmatic creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, a date derived from Nakamoto’s profile with the P2P Foundation.
While some believe this date holds symbolic significance over factual validity, it aligns with the anniversary of Executive Order 6102, enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on April 5, 1933, which mandated that Americans surrender their gold to the Federal Reserve.
Read more: Bitcoin Starts to Decouple From Nasdaq as U.S. Stocks Dive