BTC, ETH and XRP tumble on Trump tariff concerns while silver rises

Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and

Beijing announced sanctions on the US units of South Korean shipbuilder Hanwha Ocean and warned of further action against the maritime sector, escalating tensions between the world’s two largest economies and dampening hopes of a near-term thaw.

Global stocks fell and the fallout trickled down to digital assets, triggering a new wave of liquidations that pushed major tokens to multi-week lows.

( @realDonaldTrump – Truth social post)
(Donald J. Trump – October 12, 2025, 12:43 PM ET)

Don’t worry about China, everything will be fine! The highly respected President Xi just had a bad moment. He doesn’t want depression for his country, and neither do I. The US wants to help… pic.twitter.com/30ot0cICw4

— Fan Donald J. Trump 🇺🇸 TRUTH POSTS (@TruthTrumpPosts) October 12, 2025

Crypto prices are plummeting with no solution in sight

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said talks with China are still ongoing, but the uncertainty has left a dark cloud over the crypto market.

After taking a breather from the recent downtrend, crypto prices have continued to fall over the past 24 hours.

According to data from CoinMarketCap, BTC and ETH are down more than 3% and 4% respectively. Ethereum is now down more than 15% and BTC is down more than 10% in the past seven days.

Top 10 cryptos by market cap (Source:CoinMarketCap)

The rest of the top ten largest cryptos by market capitalization all fell as well. BNB, which recently set a new all-time high (ATH), is down 10%, marking the biggest loss in the top ten.

XRP and Solana (SOL) fell 6% and 1% respectively, while Dogecoin (DOGE), Tron (TRX) and Cardano (ADA) fell 5%, 3% and 6% respectively. OOverall, the crypto market cap fell by more than 3%.

The Crypto Fear & Greed Index, a popular tool used to measure investor sentiment, fell to a “fear” level of 38 a week ago, compared to a “greed” level of 70.

Crypto Fear & Greed Index (Source: Alternative.me)

MintGlass Data shows that the number of liquidations in the crypto market has exceeded $694.81 million in the last 24 hours, with long positions accounting for $511.80 million of the total. Some short traders were also affected, with $195.31 million liquidated from trades that were against the market.

Silver price reaches record high, along with gold

The search for safe haven investments sent the silver price to a record high of $53 per ounce, bringing gains for the year to more than 85%.

Silver is often seen as a proxy for gold, which also rose to a new all-time high earlier today.

Commenting on the performance of gold, silver and the crypto market, Bitcoin critic Peter Schiff warned that “crypto buyers are in for a rude awakening.” He also said that crypto investors will learn “a very valuable but expensive lesson.”

Gold and silver continue to melt while Bitcoin and Ether continue to melt. Crypto buyers are in for a rude awakening and will soon learn a very valuable but expensive lesson. Fortunately, most crypto owners are young and have a lot of time to earn back what they will lose.

— Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) October 14, 2025

That’s after he said Bitcoin’s flash crash last Friday was “not a buying opportunity, but a warning.” He added that the continued surge in gold “exposes the fiction that Bitcoin is digital gold.”

Meanwhile, analyst Michael van de Poppe confessed said that BTC’s recent correction is “nothing out of the ordinary,” and predicted that “volatility will remain high before a clear new trend emerges.”

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