Crypto News

Analysts are criticizing the financial implications of US President Donald Trump’s import tariffs, a development that some say highlights Bitcoin’s unique economic properties during times of global uncertainty.Trump’s 90-day pause on higher reciprocal tariffs, reverting them to a 10% baseline for most countries except China, has exposed vulnerabilities in the US bond market, according to critics.Economist and author of The Bitcoin Standard, Saifedean Ammous, said Trump’s decision to reverse the higher tariffs was likely a reaction to rising bond yields, suggesting the administration’s hand was forced.“Trump fought the bond market and the bond market won,” Ammous said in an April 23 X post. “The gambit seemed to work for the first day, and the huge crash in the stock market was presented as a small price to pay for fiscal sustainability.“But then the bonds began to crash, and it became clear how disastrous the tariffs were, and how wrong it was to expect that deliberately crashing the stock market would boost the bond market,” he added.Source: Saifedean AmmousRelated: Trump’s tariff escalation exposes ‘deeper fractures’ in global financial systemTreasury yields spike after tariff moveFollowing Trump’s tariff announcement, CNBC data shows that the 10-year Treasury yield surged from under 4% to 4.5% amid a sell-off driven by inflation and recession concerns. 10-year bond yield, 1-year chart. Source: CNBC“The rise in yields was the exact opposite of what the administration wanted, and reversing course on the tariffs half a day after they go into effect was absolutely devastating for Trump’s negotiating position,” Ammous said.Some analysts, including Global Macro Investor founder Raoul Pal, have suggested the tariff maneuvering may only be “posturing” for the US to reach a trade agreement with China.“All of the talk about China buckling under the threat of Trump now sounds hilarious in retrospect, when Trump could not keep his tariffs in place for two days,” Ammous said, adding that China “showed absolutely no inclination” to reach out and strike a deal.Delays in reaching a trade agreement may limit the recovery of both equity and cryptocurrency markets, which hinge on the outcomes of the trade negotiations, according to Nansen analysts.Meanwhile, Bitcoin (BTC) is acting “less like a tech stock and more like a hedge against economic uncertainty,” after Trump signaled a “substantial reduction in tariffs on Chinese goods,” Nexo dispatch analyst Iliya Kalchev told Cointelegraph.Related: Crypto, stocks enter ‘new phase of trade war’ as US-China tensions riseTrade wars reignite the need for a Bitcoin standardThe situation has revived long-standing proposals to back the US dollar with Bitcoin. Ammous said the US should keep buying BTC until the government holds enough to fully back the dollar supply, ultimately switching to a Bitcoin standard:“Keep buying bitcoin until the value of the bitcoin held by the US government is enough to back the entire US dollar supply, then go on a bitcoin standard where dollars are redeemable for bitcoin, and have the government never spend more than it earns.”Historically, the dollar was backed by gold and redeemable for a fixed amount of the precious metal until 1933, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt suspended gold convertibility in response to the Great Depression.In 1971, President Richard Nixon halted the dollar’s convertibility into gold, aiming to protect the US gold reserves and stabilize the economy, marking the beginning of the fiat currency system that remains in place today.Bitcoin’s fixed supply, which is hard-coded in its tokenomics, makes it a popular digital competitor to gold. Joe Burnett, director of market research at Unchained, predicted that Bitcoin may rival or surpass gold’s market capitalization in the next decade, projecting that the Bitcoin price will surpass $1.8 million by 2035.Magazine: Bitcoin ATH sooner than expected? XRP may drop 40%, and more: Hodler’s Digest, March 23–29

South Korean exchanges Upbit and Bithumb have suspended deposits for Synthetix (SNX) tokens after it was flagged by the Digital Asset Exchange Alliance (DAXA) for potential risks.DAXA, the self-regulatory organization establishing industry standards for South Korean exchanges, designated SNX as a cautionary item. Assets receiving this designation typically undergo rigorous evaluations to determine whether trading can continue or if delisting is necessary.Exchanges may take action, such as adding a warning tag to the asset and urging investors to take caution when engaging with it. Trading platforms can also perform additional measures, like blocking deposits or suspending trading support temporarily. Upbit and Bithumb block SNX depositsIn response to the designation, the biggest exchanges in South Korea said they are blocking deposits for SNX tokens on their platforms. Upbit announced that it had added a trading caution ticker and suspended token deposits. The exchange said it had been monitoring the developments related to the Synthetix USD (sUSD) depegging. It added that this event may damage investors through potential volatility, as SNX is used as collateral for sUSD. The exchange added that it had determined a lack of use cases for the asset, which may cause investors to suffer losses. Upbit said it would conduct a comprehensive review to decide whether to delist the asset or resume normal operations for the token. Bithumb has also blocked deposits for SNX and added a cautionary tag for the token. However, the exchange said this decision could be overturned depending on internal circumstances. If the reason for the designation is resolved, Bithumb said it would lift the restrictions. Korbit and Coinone also published investor alerts to caution traders. The two exchanges added cautionary tags to SNX tokens to alert investors who may want to trade the token. Cointelegraph reached out to Synthetix for comment but did not get a response by publication. Related: South Korean crypto emerges from failed coup into crackdown seasonsUSD struggles to recover dollar pegOn April 10, the sUSD stablecoin dropped to a five-year low of $0.83 after struggling to maintain its dollar peg in the first quarter of 2025. With the stablecoin being collateralized by the project’s native asset, Cork Protocol co-founder Rob Schmitt compared the token to Terra USD (UST), which collapsed in 2022. However, Schmitt said that sUSD has a “more manageable” debt system. On April 18, the stablecoin dipped further to $0.68, with SNX falling by 26% in a 30-day period. A Synthetix spokesperson told Cointelegraph that their team has short, medium and long-term plans to mitigate the risks. On April 21, Synthetix founder Kain Warwick threatened SNX stakers with “the stick” if they didn’t take up a newly launched staking mechanism to fix the sUSD depeg. The executive said they may put extra pressure on stakers if they don’t see enough momentum on the newly implemented mechanism. Since the warning, sUSD prices increased by 27%. On April 24, the stablecoin briefly reached $0.87. However, the token has still failed to recover its dollar peg. Magazine: Uni students crypto ‘grooming’ scandal, 67K scammed by fake women: Asia Express