Cryptocurrency Outperforms Nasdaq as BTC Becomes 'Help Against US Lockdown' Amid $5 Trillion in Stocks
Cryptocurrency Market Shows Resilience as U.S. Stocks Fall, Investors See Bitcoin as Possible Hedge
Author: Francisco Rodriguez | Edited by: Aoyon Ashraf April 5, 2025, 2:47 PM
Key points:
- US stocks have lost $5.4 trillion in value in just two days after President Trump announced his retaliatory tariffs.
- The decline in Bitcoin and the broader crypto market was less sharp, with BTC down 6% while the Nasdaq fell 11%.
- Standard Chartered sees Bitcoin as a potential hedge against instability in traditional financial systems.
President Donald Trump's imposition of retaliatory tariffs has caused the U.S. stock market to plunge $5.4 trillion in two days, sending the S&P 500 to its lowest level in 11 months and the Nasdaq 100 into bear market territory.
Still, amid the chaos, cryptocurrency prices are showing resilience: Bitcoin (BTC) is down about 6% since the tariffs were announced, while the Nasdaq is down 11%. The broader crypto market, represented by the CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20), is down about 4.9% over the same time frame.
To put the selloff numbers into context, the total cryptocurrency market cap is about $2.65 trillion, according to TheTie. Bitcoin is down 0.3% to $82,619.77 over the past 24 hours, while the broader CD20 is up about 0.2%. Most crypto-related stocks were also down at the market close on Friday, but a few did rise.
Bitcoin miner MARA Holdings (MARA) rose 0.6%, while Core Scientific (CORZ) rose 0.4%. Strategy (MSTR), the largest corporate holder of bitcoin with 528,185 BTC on its balance sheet, rose 4%. It significantly outperformed the Nasdaq on Friday, which fell 5.8%.
Cryptocurrency prices are likely to remain stable. Given their availability through traditional investment products such as ETFs and their performance, they could be “useful as a TradFi hedge,” says Jeffrey Kendrick of Standard Chartered.
“Over the last 36 hours, I think we can also add ‘US lockdown’ hedging to the list of Bitcoin uses,” Kendrick said in an April 4 email, attaching a chart showing that among the Magnificent Seven stocks, only Microsoft managed to outperform BTC during the selloff.
The resilience also comes as the crypto community celebrates the supposed birthday of Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto. The date is based on the Bitcoin creator's profile on the P2P Foundation.
Some believe that this date is not real, but symbolic. It coincides with the anniversary of Executive Order 6102, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on April 5, 1933. The order required Americans to surrender their gold to the Federal Reserve.
Read more: Bitcoin begins to separate from Nasdaq as US stocks plunge
