Bitcoin spiked on Wednesday afternoon after President Donald Trump said on social media that he authorized a 90-day pause on tariffs.
The price of the flagship cryptocurrency was last higher by more than 7% at $82,305.55, according to Coin Metrics.
Earlier, it fell as low as $74,567.02 as the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield briefly climbed over 4.51% (it has since eased off that high).
Ether, dogecoin and XRP each gained more than 12%. The Solana token soared more than 14%.
Bitcoin proxy stock MicroStrategy, recently rebranded to Strategy, rocketed 23%. Robinhood jumped 24% and crypto exchange Coinbase jumped nearly 17%.
Bitcoin’s surge coincided with the biggest rally since 2008 for the broad-market S&P 500 index, after Trump said in a Truth Social post that he has “authorized a 90 day PAUSE, and a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%, also effective immediately.” He also said he is raising the tariff on China higher again to 125%.
“Trump’s 90-day tariff pause is a strategic breather — he’s easing short term market pressure without giving up leverage, sending a clear signal that his approach to trade is transactional, not ideological,” said Ben Kurland, CEO at crypto research platform DYOR. “This move calms investor nerves and gives businesses a momentary sense of stability, but it’s not long enough to prompt real supply chain shifts or investment decisions.
“Markets may exhale, but the uncertainty hasn’t gone anywhere,” he added.
Bitcoin’s trip below $80,000 was short-lived and somewhat expected. It has traded between $80,000 and $90,000 for most of the year, after hitting its record in January.
The cryptocurrency has been taking its cues from the equities market, with traders looking for any signs of clarity around the Trump administration’s tariff plans, absent crypto specific growth drivers. Though it has generally shown less intraday volatility than equities, the cryptocurrency was down about the same amount as the major stock averages between last Thursday — after Trump first announced his sweeping tariffs plan — and Tuesday.
Although bitcoin will likely continue to move in tandem with tech stocks day-to-day, “long-term oriented investors should position portfolios for sustained dollar weakness and generally above-target inflation — consistent with how periods of severe U.S. trade frictions have been resolved in the past,” Zach Pandl, head of research at Grayscale Investments, told CNBC.
Bitcoin is down about 12% year-to-date and down almost 25% from its all-time high.
