Cryptocurrencies Extend Sell-off as Risk Assets Tank

Cryptocurrencies extended a sell-off on Monday as risk assets including equities tanked during the early U.S. hours.

Cryptocurrencies extended a sell-off on Monday as risk assets including equities tanked during the early U.S. hours.

Following a bounce to around $84,000 earlier in the day, perhaps buoyed by Square’s $21 billion fundraising plan, bitcoin slid below $80,000, to trade down 3.8% over 24 hours. The Ethereum blockchain’s ether briefly slipped below $2,000, to trade near its weakest price since November, to lose around 4%.

The broad-market CoinDesk 20 Index fell 5%, with Solana, Cardano and Aptos, Avalanche and NEAR all dropping between 7% and 10%.

The ugly action in crypto markets came as the already-battered U.S. equity indexes opened the week sharply lower, to weigh on sentiment. The Nasdaq tumbled over 3% in the early hours of the session, while the S&P 500 declined 2%.

Crypto equities also felt the heat. Square, the largest corporate BTC holder, and crypto exchange Coinbase lost more than 10%.

With the digital asset summit at the White House and President Donald Trump’s Bitcoin reserve executive order already behind us, crypto markets have now run out of near-term positive catalysts and are increasingly being weighed down by concerns about a tariff war and a slowing economy.

The economy is in a "transition" phase, Trump said in an interview with Fox News on Sunday, refusing to rule out a recession this year.

"Until crypto finds a new narrative, we're likely to see an increased correlation between BTC and equities in the near term," hedge fund QCP said in a Telegram broadcast. "Both risk assets are currently being traded in their recent lower ranges, and with tariff risks still looming, volatility could pick up further into key U.S. macro data releases."