LONDON, Feb 25 (Reuters) – Bitcoin experienced its largest one-day drop since August on Tuesday, driven by concerns over U.S. tariffs and Nvidia’s results. The situation worsened after hackers stole $1.5 billion worth of ether from the Bybit exchange last week, further eroding investor confidence. Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market value, fell below $90,000 to its lowest level since November, with a drop of up to 7.5% at one point. It was last down 6.2% on the day at $22,338. Global investors have grown anxious as signs emerge that the exceptional performance of the U.S. economy may be waning, with President Donald Trump planning to impose tariffs. Trump confirmed his intention to impose a 25% levy on imports from Canada and Mexico starting in early March. Crypto investors had anticipated further gains in bitcoin, which surpassed $100,000 in December, fueled by hopes that the Trump administration would support initiatives like a strategic bitcoin fund and ease regulations. However, aside from initial appointments of crypto-friendly officials in January, there has been little concrete news for investors. “The absence of new bullish catalysts — such as progress on crypto-friendly regulation or the approval of additional cryptocurrency ETFs — has kept prices range-bound in recent weeks,” said Thomas Erdosi, head of product at CF Benchmarks. Investors have also been withdrawing funds from bitcoin-backed exchange-traded funds. LSEG data indicates the largest ETFs are on track for a net monthly outflow of around $644 million, the largest since their launch in January 2024. The fragile sentiment around risk assets like crypto and stocks was compounded by Bybit’s announcement that hackers had stolen digital tokens worth around $1.5 billion. Bybit CEO Ben Zhou stated that the stolen crypto was taken from a “cold wallet” used for ether tokens, which is typically stored offline and considered more secure. Blockchain research firm Elliptic described the hack as more than double the size of the previous largest crypto heist and “almost certainly the single largest known theft of any kind in history.” Dubai-based Bybit is the world’s second-largest exchange after Binance. Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market value, fell 9.5% to $2,386, its lowest since October. In the past week alone, bitcoin has lost nearly 8% of its value, while smaller altcoins have been hit even harder. Memecoin dogecoin and the tokens for the solana and cardano networks have all dropped around 20%, according to Coingecko. — news from Reuters
