Donald Trump unveiled a promised list of tariffs, US work on stablecoin legislation advanced, the Ethereum network reclaimed the lead by DEX trading volumes, and more from the week.
Markets disliked ‘Liberation Day’
Bitcoin opened the week at $81,700. Over Monday the price fell to $81,329, then turned higher.
The defining factor for bitcoin and most other crypto and traditional assets was the so-called ‘Liberation Day’—Donald Trump’s 2 April presentation of new tariffs for America’s trading partners.
A day earlier, on 1 April, analysts at QCP Capital warned that overly aggressive tariffs could darken sentiment and prompt further declines in risk assets.
In Q1 2025 bitcoin, Ethereum and the S&P 500 posted their worst showings in three years. Since 29 March the digital-asset market has shed over $160bn in market value.
With consumer confidence at a 12-year low and equities already shaken by a 4–5% weekly drop, the timing for tighter trade conditions is deeply inopportune, QCP believes.
«However, political theatre often leaves room for recalibration. A softer-than-expected implementation could give markets a brief respite», — допустили специалисты.
By the start of Mr Trump’s presentation on 2 April, bitcoin had reached a local high above $88,000. After the government’s plans were unveiled, it slumped back to roughly Monday’s level, around $82,000.
BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes noted that the market “did not like” the new tariffs.
Mrkt no likey “Liberation Day”, if $BTC can hold $76.5k btw now and US tax day Apr 15, then we are out of the woods. Don’t get chopped up!
— Arthur Hayes (@CryptoHayes) April 2, 2025
In his view, if bitcoin holds $76,500 through US tax day on 15 April, the market will shed the uncertainty and volatility sparked by the tariff announcement.
During Mr Trump’s speech the S&P 500’s market capitalisation shrank by more than $2trn in just 16 minutes, noted The Kobeissi Letter.
«Nasdaq 100 futures are currently trading 850 points lower after a 400-point gain overnight. This puts us on track for the biggest intraday reversal of 2025. Fasten your seatbelts for more volatility», — заявили авторы ресурса.
Within a day of the presentation the crypto fear and greed index plunged to 25, into “extreme fear”. On the eve of “Liberation Day” the metric had been edging up.
On 4 April daily liquidations on the crypto market reached $250m. Bitcoin climbed from $81,800 to $84,700, but fell back to the starting levels after China announced retaliatory tariffs against the US.
Over the day the coin gradually recovered, then slipped again after the publication of US labour-market data. The subsequent remarks by Fed chair Jerome Powell added to the gloom.
Even so, bitcoin’s dominance index approached 63%. The measure has been rising since January 2023.
Over the weekend the price kept falling. At the time of writing bitcoin trades around $82,000. The fear and greed index has partially recovered to 35.
Ether’s dynamics largely tracked the “digital gold”. At the start of the week the price was $1,790.
By 1 April it peaked around $1,918. On 2 April, after dipping to $1,750, the price again topped $1,900, only to slump to $1,794 amid “Liberation Day”.
For the next three days it ranged between $1,750–1,840. At the time of writing ether trades at $1,742.
Over the week, all top-10 assets by market value fell, except TRX, up 3.4%.
The steepest losses were SOL (-8.7%), ADA (-7.1%) and DOGE (-4.7%).
Experts weighed the fallout from ‘Liberation Day’
On 2 April US president Donald Trump announced tariffs for trading partners as part of the so-called “Liberation Day”.
The new policy envisages “reciprocal tariffs” for some trading partners at roughly half the rates they impose on American goods. A minimum of 10% applies to the rest.
Specifically, the stated tariffs were 54% for China, 20% for the EU, 46% for Vietnam, 32% for Taiwan, 24% for Japan, 26% for India and 25% for South Korea.
Mr Trump also mentioned 25% tariffs on imported cars and auto parts.
Specialists think the impact will extend beyond a short-term hit to markets.
Industry experts believe US miners will be directly affected.
Most mining rigs now enter the country from Malaysia (new tariff rate 24%), Thailand (36%) and Indonesia (32%), noted Blockware Solutions founder and CEO Mason Jappa.
«Units already delivered to the US will become more valuable», — констатировал он.
BitMars general manager Summer Man added China (54%) to the list. All factories of Bitmain, the biggest maker of bitcoin-mining equipment, will be hit, she stressed.
According to The Mining Pod, the China-based company accounts for about 80% of the ASIC-miner market. Roughly another 7% is held by Chinese rival MicroBT, whose plants are located in the same jurisdictions.
Both companies have said they would open production lines in the US. However, their scale remains unknown, and chips for the rigs are still imported.
Blockware Solutions analyst Mitchell Askew called the tariff impact “huge”. In his words, it will curb imports, stoking domestic demand.
«Combine that with a rising BTC and we could see ASIC-miner prices jump 5–10x, as in 2021», — заявил Эскью.
Synteq Digital CEO Taras Kulyk thinks the announced tariffs “will stifle further development of the sector”.
BRN lead analyst Valentin Fournier argues that Mr Trump’s tariffs have to some extent dispelled uncertainty about bitcoin’s trajectory, and the long-awaited clarity in US trade policy “creates the conditions for the bulls to get active”.
«Uncertainty is decreasing, and institutional buyers are returning. With key catalysts coinciding, we expect bitcoin to regain momentum and make another attempt to reach $90,000 in the near future», — сообщил Фурнье.
David Hernandez of 21Shares concurred, noting that the first cryptocurrency’s resilience to tariffs compared with equities could again spur institutional demand.
A theory also surfaced online that the “liberating” tariffs were in fact designed by artificial intelligence.
Some X users asked ChatGPT to calculate tariff schedules and obtained similar figures.
«I think [in the administration] they asked ChatGPT to compute other countries’ tariffs, and that’s why the numbers make absolutely no sense. They just divide the trade-balance deficit we have with a given country by our imports from that country, or set 10%, whichever is higher», — отметил один из комментаторов.
Wojciech Kopczuk, an editor of the Journal of Public Economics, ran a similar experiment and got a matching answer.
US authorities sketched out stablecoin rules
US authorities are considering two stablecoin-regulation bills in parallel — the STABLE Act and the GENIUS Act. Both await debate in the House of Representatives and the Senate.
The proposals differ; however, crypto-industry lobbyists expect coordinated work to reconcile them, to avoid delays.
Taking another step toward clearer rules, on 4 April the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance outlined characteristics of stablecoins that are not securities.
According to the statement, such stablecoins are “designed to maintain a stable value relative to the US dollar and are backed by US dollars and/or other assets deemed low-risk and liquid”.
Reserves must be held to meet or exceed the value of stablecoins in circulation. The issuer must mint and redeem the asset on demand in unlimited amounts.
Secondary-market trading and intermediary participation in transactions are permitted, but stablecoins must not give holders rights to any form of dividends and an equity interest in the issuer or another business.
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A row erupted between Justin Sun and FDT
On 2 April the stablecoin FDUSD traded about 12% off its dollar peg amid Justin Sun’s claims that First Digital Trust (FDT) was insolvent.
First Digital Trust is a Hong Kong fiduciary firm hired by Techteryx to manage reserves for the TrueUSD (TUSD) stablecoin. According to CoinDesk, in 2023–2024 the project booked a $456m shortfall tied to FDT’s activities.
Court filings say the firm was supposed to place reserves into the Aria Commodity Finance Fund (Aria CFF) in the Cayman Islands, but sent the money to Aria Commodities DMCC — a non-authorised fund registered in Dubai.
Matthew Britten, listed in the documents as Aria CFF’s manager, told reporters the two funds are related — DMCC handles trading, while CFF provides financing for deals.
In 2022 Techteryx sought to retrieve the funds, but the fund repaid only a small portion. Mr Sun then extended Techteryx a loan to support redemptions.
On 2 April, responding to CoinDesk’s report, the entrepreneur posted a tweet calling FDT unable to meet client redemptions.
First Digital Trust (FDT) is effectively insolvent and unable to fulfill client fund redemptions. I strongly recommend that users take immediate action to secure their assets. There are significant loopholes in both the trust licensing process in Hong Kong and the internal risk…
— H.E. Justin Sun ? (@justinsuntron) April 2, 2025
He urged users to withdraw funds and called on regulators to scrutinise gaps in licensing and risk management.
The statement triggered a wave of selling in First Digital Trust’s own stablecoin, ticker FDUSD, and a temporary drop to $0.88.
First Digital denied Mr Sun’s claims and pledged full backing of FDUSD, citing relevant financial reports. The entrepreneur’s assertions were described as a “smear campaign” and “an attack on a competing business”.
On 3 April Mr Sun held a press conference with “exposing a major international financial fraud involving traditional financial institutions and Web3 platforms in Hong Kong”.
?I’m exposing a major international financial fraud involving traditional financial institutions and Web3 platforms in Hong Kong.—LIVE NOW. https://t.co/wmCpV7sIcI
— H.E. Justin Sun ? (@justinsuntron) April 3, 2025
The same day FDT published an official response to the allegations. According to the statement, the company acted “solely under Techteryx’s instructions” and has records to prove it.
It blamed Techteryx for the 2022 repayment issues. FDT says the Aria fund had expressed concerns about KYC/AML compliance in Techteryx’s purchase of TrueUSD and the identification of its beneficiary. The fund allegedly still has not received the required data.
«By falsely accusing [FDT] of participating in a conspiracy, Justin Sun and Techteryx are attempting to evade responsibility and avoid their duties to properly manage reserves as the stablecoin issuer», — сказано в заявлении FDT.
The firm also redeemed over $25m in FDUSD, noting that it continues operating as usual.
On 4 April Mr Sun offered a $50m bounty for the return of TUSD reserves, “misappropriated by bad actors, including First Digital Trust”.
(1/3) ?$50 Million Bounty Program — First Digital Trust Scam
I hereby officially announce: A $50 million bounty program (equivalent to roughly 10% of my liquidity support or the stolen TUSD reserves) will be offered to recover the TUSD reserves misappropriated by bad actors…
— H.E. Justin Sun ? (@justinsuntron) April 4, 2025
On 5 April he vowed “to bring the fraudsters to justice to the fullest extent of the law”:
«First Digital Trust (FDT) should not get another chance to deceive the public under the guise of a licensed institution, in Hong Kong or anywhere else».
At the time of writing FDUSD has recovered and roughly maintains its US dollar peg. Details of the presumed legal action are not yet known.
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- Media: Circle will delay plans for an IPO.
DEX leadership returned to Ethereum
The Ethereum network has again taken first place by aggregate trading volume on decentralised exchanges. Since September last year Solana had led.
According to DeFi Llama, aggregate volume on Ethereum DEXs reached $64.6bn — 22% more than Solana’s $52.62bn.
A large share came from Uniswap, which processed $30bn. Fluid ranked second among Ethereum DEXs at $9bn, underscoring rising competition.
The drop in Solana volumes, including on Raydium and Pump.fun, reflects waning interest in memecoins.
In January the “people’s ecosystem” saw a burst of activity thanks to the launch of the TRUMP token. In March Raydium did not log a single day with trading volumes above $1bn.
Average daily trading in “funny coins” on Pump.fun fell from $390m in January to under $100m in March.
What else to read?
In a new piece we explored how a maturing market reshapes cycles and whether bitcoin price forecasts based on historical data are worth trusting.
For 1 April we turned to mystical forces for market analysis.
We examined native rollups in Ethereum and discussed their value to the ecosystem.
Together with Oleg Cash Coin we untangled the knotty ties between big crypto projects and officials in the new presidential administration—and what their leaders seek.
We reviewed the non-custodial SparX wallet, its functions and features from the perspective of The Open Network (TON) users.
In our traditional digest we rounded up the week’s main cybersecurity events.