Crypto Crash Today: Feb 25 – Will Crypto Recover? Trump Tariff Impact, Bitcoin Sell-Off & Pi Network Price Fluctuations

The SEC is all set to drop case against Uniswap Labs, marking a shift in its stance toward crypto according to the Wall Street Journal. Sources say that the SEC has finished its probe and will not take further action. The investigation, which started in April 2024, looked into whether Uniswap operated as an unregistered exchange and if its UNI token was an illegal securities sale. Uniswap Labs stated that the case closure confirms its compliance with the law, emphasizing that its technology facilitates a transparent, efficient, and accessible market.

Ethereum Foundation Executive Director Aya Miyaguchi is stepping up as president of the NGO, as announced in a blog post. This comes amid criticism of her leadership among some Ethereum community members and widespread criticism of the foundation. Miyaguchi highlighted Ethereum’s strength lies in its decentralized nature, where no one person or group owns it. The decision, which had been in the works for a year, will allow Miyaguchi to continue managing institutional relationships and supporting community development. She joined the foundation in 2018 after working at Kraken Japan.

On February 25, Bitcoin dropped below $89,000 for the first time in three months, losing over 8% in a single day. Despite the market downturn, Eric Trump encouraged people to “buy the dips” on X, urging them to take advantage of the lower prices. Michael Saylor also called the drop a “Bitcoin sale” hinting that his company may take advantage of the lower prices. Conversely, critics like Peter Schiff have cautioned that Bitcoin’s price could continue to decline, advising against buying the dip. Similarly, Geoff Kendrick from Standard Chartered forecasted a potential 10% drop, linking it to outflows from U.S. Bitcoin spot ETFs.

Bitdeer Technologies Group’s stock fell over 28% on Feb. 25 after reporting lower-than-expected earnings for Q4 2024. The company posted Q4 revenues of $69 million, down nearly 40% from last year, and net losses of over $530 million, compared to a $5 million loss in Q4 2023. The earnings miss comes as miners continue to face challenges following Bitcoin’s April 2024 halving event, which halved Bitcoin mining revenues. In January, Bitcoin’s hashrate hit a record high of over 1,000 exahashes per second (EH/s). To counter falling mining revenues, Bitdeer has been selling its energy-efficient Bitcoin mining hardware, but sales are still growing and didn’t make up for weaknesses in other parts of the business in Q4.

On Monday, U.S. spot-listed Bitcoin ETFs saw $516.4 million in outflows, marking their second-largest of the year, according to Farside data. This was the ninth outflow in 10 days, highlighting rising uncertainty around Bitcoin, which had been stuck in a narrow range between $94,000 and $100,000 for most of the month. Bitcoin’s CME basis dropped to 4%, falling below the 5% risk-free rate for the first time, indicating less interest from institutions in the cash-and-carry trade. On Tuesday, Bitcoin fell to $88,250, breaking its three-month trading range as investors reevaluate their positions.

Tether CEO in a latest X post notes that USDt (Tether) has become the most effective way to spread the dominance of the US Dollar. He noted that Tether has developed the largest global distribution network for its stablecoin, USDt, helping over 400 million people in emerging markets access the US Dollar. Despite its success, the CEO claims that competitors are more focused on undermining Tether through legal and political means rather than improving their own products. He stressed that Tether remains committed to protecting the millions of people relying on USDt, especially those excluded from traditional financial systems.

Tether’s USDT stablecoin will soon offer commission-free transactions on the Tron blockchain, according to Tron founder Justin Sun. In a February 25 X post, Sun announced that Tron’s Gas Free feature, which allows USDT gas payments without needing TRX, will launch within the next week. Sun also invited teams and wallets interested in supporting the gas-free feature for Tether USDt to contact JustLend, Tron’s official lending platform. Tron was once known as one of the cheapest blockchains for USDT transactions, offering a more affordable alternative to ERC-20 USDT on Ethereum. However, in recent months, it has become one of the most expensive networks for USDT transfers.

Metaplanet recently purchased an additional 135 Bitcoin for 1.94 billion yen ($13 million), bringing its total holdings to 2,235 BTC. This positions the company among the top 15 publicly traded firms with the largest Bitcoin reserves. The Tokyo-based company bought 135 Bitcoin for an average of 14.36 million yen. This year, Metaplanet has seen a 23.2% yield on its BTC holdings. However, its stock price has dropped 3% to 6,010 yen, a drop still less than 20% below its all-time high.

In a recent development, Bybit has successfully overcome the restrictions that were previously limiting its operations in India. Bybit is officially registered with Indian authorities, resuming full trading services after settling compliance issues. As of Feb 25, all Bybit services, including the ability to open new trades and access all products, have been fully restored for existing users. Onboarding of new users will also gradually commence today. The exchange can now operate legally in the country.

In a recent update, BlackRock has just deposited 18,168 ETH worth $44M and 1,800 BTC worth $160M into Coinbase in the past hour. This suggests that the company might be preparing to sell or move a significant amount of cryptocurrency. Notably, this kind of move often raises suspicions of potential market manipulation, as large transfers by institutional players like BlackRock can impact prices. Also, a move of this scale often sparks speculation as to whether they are preparing to sell, reallocate funds, or setting up for something bigger which creates uncertainty and leads to price fluctuations.

Nasdaq has filed Form 19b-4 with the SEC to get approval to list and trade shares of Grayscale’s spot Polkadot ETF. The fund will track the spot price of Polkadot’s native coin, DOT, and is expected to trade under the ticker symbol “DOT.” As the fund’s sponsor, Grayscale aims to offer a regulated, straightforward way to invest in Polkadot. In addition, they’re seeking approval for ETFs linked to other popular digital assets like XRP, Solana (SOL), Dogecoin (DOGE), Cardano (ADA), and Litecoin (LTC). Nasdaq’s filing is the second active application for a DOT-focused fund, following 21Shares’ S-1 registration last month.

Bybit, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, has been making headlines recently with its accumulation of Ethereum (ETH) to ‘close the ETH gap’ and stabilise their operations. As per the latest data from Arkham Intelligence, in just the past 4 hours, Bybit has purchased a 36,893 ETH, totaling approximately $87.5 million through over-the-counter (OTC) deals. Over the past 3 days alone, Bybit has acquired a total of 212,101 ETH, worth a significant $574 million, via OTC deals. This accumulation is expected to drive bullish sentiment for ETH, potentially pushing its price toward $3,000 soon.

Bitcoin broke out of its range, falling below $90K for the first time in a month and now hovering just under that level. This decline comes amid market pressure following Trump’s tariffs on Canada and Mexico and efforts to curb Chinese investment. Institutional demand, primarily from players like MicroStrategy using equity-linked note issuances, has supported BTC, though that financing avenue appears to be nearing saturation.

Crypto exchange Bybit, hit by a $1.4 billion hack on Feb. 21 allegedly by North Korea’s Lazarus Group, borrowed 40,000 ETH (about $104 million) from Bitget to manage customer withdrawals. On Feb. 25, Bybit repaid the full amount—a loan provided without interest or collateral, as confirmed by Bitget CEO Gracy Chen. This repayment is part of Bybit’s broader effort to restore its reserves, having recovered nearly 88% of the stolen funds through loans, whale deposits, and asset purchases.

South Korea’s Financial Services Commission suspended some operations of Dunamu, the parent company of Upbit, for three months due to rule violations. Dunamu processed transactions with unreported virtual asset operators, failed to meet customer verification requirements, and neglected to report suspicious transactions. As part of the measures, transfers of virtual assets by new customers will be restricted from March 7 until June 6 to strengthen compliance and restore market integrity.

According to Schiff, CEO Michael Saylor could sell some Bitcoin and use the proceeds to repurchase shares, thereby narrowing the discount. However, Schiff argued that such a maneuver would likely trigger a sharp decline in both Bitcoin and MSTR’s share price, making it an unattractive option. As a result, he suggested the discount will continue to widen until bankruptcy forces a sale.

Bitcoin dominance has surged over 60% from a key blue zone identified last year, fueling claims of an endless BTC rally and no alt season. Yet, these extreme views often emerge at market peaks. When dominance eventually reverses and falls below 40%, it could signal the start of a major alt season. Trends are cyclical—what rises must eventually come down.

In the past 24 hours, 366,734 traders were liquidated, resulting in a staggering total of $1.34 billion in losses. Notably, one whale trader was liquidated for $20.80 million, underscoring the intense market volatility and the risks associated with leveraged positions in today’s turbulent crypto market.

Market fear is at record levels as Bitcoin’s trading volume has steadily declined since November. Despite the price drop, exchange volume hasn’t increased, indicating that the next breakout may occur on a bullish bounce. This technical pattern suggests a market bottom could be imminent, setting the stage for an upward reversal. Investors should monitor for the volume surge that signals the bottom soon. This surge could trigger a rapid recovery.

Bitcoin plunged to just over $90,000—the lowest since January 13—erasing more than $9,000 from Friday’s high. Liquidated positions surged past $1 billion, driven mainly by long positions. Bitcoin must fully capture available liquidity to trigger an upward rotation. Analysts suggest that an ultimate bottom range of $83,000 to $87,000 could be reached before the market stabilizes, setting the stage for a renewed upward trajectory.

A whale unstaked 96,155 SOL—currently valued at $13.49M and peaking at $25M—2 hours ago and deposited it to Binance. The same whale had withdrawn 88,493 SOL a year ago at an average price of $101 and staked it. This maneuver nets approximately $4.5M in profit, reflecting a significant strategic move amid changing market conditions.

Whale investors are aggressively buying $HYPE, signaling a significant bullish sentiment. In the past day, a large address (0x9f70…DB0D) deposited 5M USDC into Hyperliquid to acquire $HYPE 15 hours ago. Another whale (0x8AD6…f23D) added 2.07M USDC within the last 24 hours, while a third (0x48F1…359c) injected 1.35M USDC just 8 hours ago. This surge in USDC deposits underscores growing institutional interest in $HYPE. Investors remain strongly optimistic about its future.

Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade went live on the Holesky testnet at 21:55 UTC but failed to finalize as expected. Developers are investigating the delay on Discord, echoing a similar issue from the Dencun upgrade on Goerli last January. Pectra bundles 11 key EIPs—including EIP-7702 and EIP-7251—to enhance wallet functionality and staking. The next test is set for Sepolia, with mainnet activation pending.

Crypto majors slid up to 14% over the past 24 hours as a prolonged sell-off extended into Tuesday amid a lack of catalysts and growing macroeconomic concerns. Bitcoin fell below $92,000 for the first time since November, while SOL, DOGE, XRP, and ETH also saw significant losses. Despite bearish sentiment, some traders expect recovery if economic conditions improve and the Fed adjusts its policy stance.

El Salvador resumed Bitcoin purchases following a rare seven-day pause from February 18 to 24, 2025—one of its longest interruptions. The country acquired an additional 7 BTC, raising its total holdings to 6,088 BTC valued at about $562.9 million. This move demonstrates continued government confidence in digital assets amid intermittent buying halts, as El Salvador diversifies its portfolio and reinforces its commitment to cryptocurrency as a strategic economic asset overall.

Chainflip has announced its decision to block the illegal movement of funds linked to the Bybit hack. The protocol team, community, liquidity providers, primary interfaces, and validator providers were consulted before this move. Most of the necessary code has been written and is undergoing testing. The upgraded version is expected to be deployed within the next 24 to 72 hours, reinforcing the platform’s commitment to secure operations for improved trust.

Bitcoin fell to a multi-week low, triggering $950 million in liquidations after President Trump announced a return to 25% tariffs on over $900 billion in Canadian and Mexican imports, raising inflation fears. The announcement sent Bitcoin below $95,000, Ethereum to $2,500, and dragged altcoins into losses. Meanwhile, proposals for Bitcoin reserve bills failed in Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming, and South Dakota, stalling state efforts to invest public funds in crypto.