The US-China trade war seems to be worsening day by day.
In response to Donald Trump’s 104% tariffs on Chinese imports, the Asian superpower has imposed 84% counter-tariffs of its own on all US goods. The new rates will come into effect on April 10th.
Crypto prices fell sharply on the news, with Bitcoin momentarily dipping below $76,000. Large-cap altcoins are faring even worse and could see further declines after the U.S. market opens on Wednesday.
China Retaliates, Global Trade War Escalates
China has called America’s bluff in a major escalation of the global trade war.
Donald Trump raised duties on Chinese goods to 104% after the Asian nation retaliated against his Liberation Day tariffs.
Instead of backing down, China is continuing with its policy of mutually assured destruction, raising its tariff rates on US imports to 84%.
Moreover, China’s central bank, PBOC, has asked major state-owned banks to reduce their dollar purchases, Reuters reports.
US equity futures are down sharply on the news, suggesting that the stock market could see another day of heavy sell-offs on Wednesday.
To make matters worse, the Trump administration isn’t looking to fold either and will likely continue with further escalation. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox Business, “Everything is on the table”, when asked about potentially delisting Chinese stocks from US Exchanges.
Bessent also stated that the stock market has grown wealthier for four decades and is not an urgent priority for the Trump administration, a statement that is likely to add to the investor jitters.
Crypto Prices Crash, How Low Could They Go?
The Bitcoin price briefly dipped below $76,000 following China’s escalation. While it hasn’t yet filled yesterday’s $74.5K downside wick, further volatility could be in the cards after the U.S. market opens.
It appears extremely likely that the Bitcoin price will tag $70,000, as forecasted by the Global M2 money supply last year. However, the Global M2 also indicates that BTC will reach a new all-time high in Q2, indicating that investors should be buying the dip.
Altcoins are faring much worse. There is a growing consensus that Ethereum could reach $1200 before a bullish reversal, while Solana could bottom in the $50 – $76 range. $1.30 is also on the cards for XRP.
The crypto market bottom, while imminent, isn’t in just yet. Rather than catching the falling knife, investors should exercise patience and buy crypto assets at a sign of clear strength.
Smart Money Investors Eye Crypto Presales To Defy Market Uncertainty
The next crypto bull run is on the horizon. Investors simply need to survive a couple of weeks of broader market uncertainty before the “up only” zone returns.
Unsurprisingly, several smart money investors are eyeing crypto presales in the current environment. Presale crypto assets — which are available at a fixed price before their exchange launch — allow investors to bet on the fundamentals without worrying about short-term volatility.
For instance, the first prominent Solana layer-2 project, Solaxy (SOLX), is still in its presale phase.
SOLX continues to receive heavy whale and retail investment and has already raised nearly $30 million in its ICO.
Being a cutting-edge ZK rollup, Solaxy is designed to tackle the network congestion on the Solana blockchain, even during periods of heavy traffic. Unsurprisingly, experts view it as becoming a key part of Solana’s ecosystem in the coming months.
Considering most top Layer-2 projects end up surpassing billion-dollar valuations, Solaxy could easily be the next 10x crypto.
Similarly, a prominent AI agent coin, MIND of Pepe (MIND), is also in high demand during its presale and has raised nearly $8 million behind strong whale interest.
Early MIND buyers are betting on the fact that AI coins will dominate once again during the next crypto bull run.
With MIND of Pepe being one of the top Ethereum-based AI coin, it could deliver outsized returns following its launch. Many experts are calling it the next 100x crypto.
Visit MIND of Pepe Presale
Source: https://en.cryptonomist.ch/2025/04/09/breaking-crypto-prices-crash-as-china-imposes-additional-84-counter-tariffs-on-us/