Bitcoin extended a sharp sell-off on Thursday, sinking below $71,000 and wiping out all gains recorded since US President Donald Trump’s 2024 re-election. The cryptocurrency dropped more than 7 percent on the day and is down nearly 20 percent year-to-date after losses that began in mid-January.
As of 04:30 GMT, Bitcoin was trading around $70,900. The coin first reached $100,000 in December 2024 and retested that level in February and May 2025, but it has generally trended lower since an October peak above $127,000.
Prices initially surged after Trump’s re-election on expectations his administration would loosen regulatory pressure on digital assets. During his campaign he pledged to turn the US into a global crypto hub and, alongside his sons, launched a venture called World Liberty Financial before taking office. Early in his term he also outlined plans for a strategic crypto reserve that would include Bitcoin and four other tokens.
That momentum has faded. A Trump-backed bill to regulate crypto trading is stalled in the US Senate amid disputes between banks and crypto firms, leaving industry participants uncertain about the policy path. US Representative Ro Khanna said he would probe World Liberty Financial after The Wall Street Journal reported that representatives of an Abu Dhabi official signed a $500 million deal to acquire a 49 percent stake in the firm.
Markets beyond crypto were softer on Thursday as well: silver plunged as much as 16 percent, while benchmark stock indexes in Hong Kong and Japan fell roughly 1.3 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively.