Bitcoin dips below US$70,000, wiping out gains since Trump election win amid Warsh Fed fears

Bitcoin tumbled through the key US$70,000 level on Thursday ‌as a slide in the world’s largest cryptocurrency showed no signs of stopping.Bitcoin fell by as much as ‍3.8 per cent to a low of US$69,858, its weakest since November 2024, when Republican Donald Trump won the US presidential election, having signalled his intention to support crypto on the campaign trail.Bitcoin has already fallen nearly 8 per cent for the week, taking its losses for the year so far to nearly 20 per cent. Bitcoin is down about 45 per cent from its October high. Ether, which was down nearly 2 per cent at US$2,090, is ⁠down close to 30 per cent this year.Markets ‘fear a hawk’ with WarshThe latest rout in cryptocurrencies, which has come hard and fast, was triggered, analysts say, by the nomination of Kevin Warsh as the next Federal Reserve Chair, due to expectations he could shrink the Fed’s balance sheet.Cryptocurrencies have widely been regarded as beneficiaries of a large balance sheet, having tended to rally while the Fed greased money markets with liquidity – a support for speculative assets.“The ‍market fears a hawk with him,” said Manuel Villegas Franceschi from the next generation research team at Julius Baer. “A smaller balance sheet is not ‍going to provide any tailwinds for crypto.”The global crypto market has lost nearly US$1.9 trillion in value since hitting a peak of US$4.379 trillion in early October, based on data from CoinGecko, with some US$800 billion wiped out in the last ‌month alone.Kevin Warsh speaks during an investment conference in New York City in May 2017. Photo: Reuters