Bitcoin falls to lowest level as big tech sell-off intensifies
The price of Bitcoin has fallen to its lowest level in 15 years amid the sweeping tech sell-off and nomination of a ‘hawkish’ Fed chair.
A single bitcoin is now roughly worth $64,657 (£47,657), the lowest level since October 2024, with the price plummeting 24 per cent since the start of the year.
The price has dropped to levels that “many thought impossible”, plunging well below the expected price of $70,000, which is the average cost of mining Bitcoin.
The drop also followed months of surging Bitcoin prices, which reached an all-time high of $122,200 in October, as investors were encouraged by Trump’s involvement in the sector.
Trump crypto surge
Investors were buoyed by the US president’s outspoken support for cryptocurrencies, coupled with his promises to ease legislation.
During his first year back in office, Trump launched a cryptocurrency brand, with the bulk of profits going to his personal companies, and continued his involvement with World Liberty Financial, an investment vehicle for other crypto assets owned by the Trump family.
Elsewhere, he signed a law to support federal backing of cryptocurrency, dissolved a Department of Justice team focused on enforcing the asset’s regulations, and the Securities and Exchange Commission has dropped crypto-related enforcement work and regulations.
However, not all of Trump’s cryptocurrency plans have been successful, with the official Trump meme coin experiencing an 18 per cent decline over the past 24 hours to $3.38.
The coin has been in a broad downward trend since its early 2025 highs of $73.43, while the official Melania meme coin has hit $0.12, trading roughly 99 per cent below its all-time high of $13.73.
Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee in November called out Trump’s “pro-crypto agenda”, noting that the president had amassed crypto holdings worth more than $11bn, gaining personal income of $800m from crypto transactions since taking office.
Fed chair nomination aftershocks
Analysts have credited the staggering drop to Trump’s decision to nominate Kevin Warsh as Fed Chair, as he is widely viewed as ‘hawkish’.
It is thought that Warsh will resist aggressive interest rate cuts, thereby preventing looser monetary policies that support investments in volatile assets such as crypto.
Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote, said: “There’s no convincing answer to what the bottom might be. It will be determined by appetite for this highly speculative asset with limited use cases.”
Other analysts have said this selloff could lead to a “death spiral”, but Ozkardeskaya argued that this is a reflection of the asset’s “volatile and risky nature”.
Meanwhile, Deutsche Bank predicted that the asset would never return to Trump-driven highs, as it continues to shift from a speculative asset to one that needs to “find its specific role” within the wider market.
Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, argued that this “selloff still pales in comparison to other crypto winters”, suggesting it has “plentiful powers of recuperation”.
In the UK, the asset is not fully regulated as a financial product by the watchdog, but the government has laid out plans for a broader regulatory framework for crypto assets, focusing on trading, custody and lending.
Bitcoin’s fortunes have also long been pinned to the broader tech sector, with the price tending to rise off the back of investor enthusiasm on AI.
The large selloff has accelerated the slide in the asset’s value, as some investors opted to sell Bitcoin to cover losses or to reduce exposure to volatile assets.