Bitcoin steadied on Wednesday seeing little buying as traders remained largely risk-averse in anticipation of more trade tariffs from U.S. President Donald Trump due later in the day.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency recovered marginally this week after clocking steep losses in the first quarter of 2025. But this recovery remained fragile in the face of increased economic ructions under Trump.
Bitcoin rose 1.5% to $84,246.4 by 01:30 ET (05:30 GMT).
Crypto markets were on edge before Trump’s announcement of more trade tariffs later on Wednesday. The U.S. President is set to announce reciprocal tariffs on major U.S. trading partners, and could also unveil tariffs on all U.S. imports.
Trump’s tariffs are expected to draw retaliation from several major economies, potentially disrupting global trade and denting growth.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that Trump will impose the maximum level of tariffs later in the day, and that targeted countries will be able to lower the duties by cutting their own tariffs on U.S. goods.
Trump’s 25% tariffs on automobiles are also set to take effect later in the day, while the President could also impose tariffs on other sectors such as metals, semiconductors, and pharmaceuticals.
Investors fretted over the impact of Trump’s tariffs, which kept markets largely risk-averse and pressured speculative assets such as Bitcoin.
Circle, the issuer of the stablecoin USDC, filed for an initial public offering to list on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday.
The company is reportedly seeking a $5 billion valuation, with JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) and Citigroup (NYSE:C) serving as lead underwriters.
The move represents Circle’s second attempt to enter public markets, after a planned merger with a special purpose acquisition company collapsed in 2022 amid regulatory challenges and a crypto market rout.
A successful listing will make Circle one of the biggest publicly traded crypto firms in the U.S., behind Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) and major Bitcoin holder Strategy (NASDAQ:MSTR).
But the company’s planned IPO comes amid volatile times for equity markets, with Wall Street nursing steep losses in the first quarter on concerns over Trump.
Broader crypto prices moved in a flat-to-low range, seeing little buying action ahead of Trump’s widely anticipated tariff announcement.
World no.2 crypto Ether rose 0.8% to $1,857.20, while XRP fell 1.2% to $2.0777.
Solana fell 1.9%, Cardano shed 0.5%, while Polygon slid nearly 5%.
Among meme tokens, Dogecoin lost 0.3%, while $TRUMP was flat.
