Bitcoin falls to lowest level since Trump took office

The price of Bitcoin fell to its lowest level in 15 months despite US president Donald Trump’s personal and public support of cryptocurrency.

A single Bitcoin is now worth $66,000 (£48,700), its lowest level since October of 2024, with the price down 24% since the start of this year.

The drop followed months of surging Bitcoin prices, which saw the cryptocurrency hit an all-time high of $122,200 in October.

Investors were encouraged by Trump’s involvement in the sector and his outspoken support for cryptocurrencies, as well as promises to ease legislation on the industry.

Among Trump’s first actions upon re-entering the White House in January 2025 was an executive order aimed at making the US the “crypto capital of the planet”.

In his first year back in office, Trump launched a personal brand of cryptocurrency, with the bulk of profits going into his own companies. And he continued his involvement with World Liberty Financial, an investment vehicle for other crypto assets that is owned by the Trump family.

During the Trump administration so far, he has signed a law to support federal backing of cryptocurrency, dissolved a Department of Justice team focused on enforcement of crypto regulation, and the Securities and Exchange Commission has dropped crypto-related enforcement work and investigations.

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee in November called out Trump’s “pro-crypto agenda”, noting that the president had amassed crypto holdings worth more than $11bn and gained personal income of $800mn from crypto transactions since taking office.

With Thursday’s drop, Bitcoin prices are down 32% in the last 12 months and are trending toward prices seen in early 2024 and 2021.

Bitcoin is the world’s largest and generally most well-known cryptocurrency, a form of digital-only money that is not controlled by a centralised financial institution.

Why has Bitcoin lost value?

Bitcoin prices tend to be volatile, but analysts with Deutsche Bank said in a note on Wednesday that the latest drop was “triggered by” Trump’s nomination of Kevin Warsh, as the new chair of the Federal Reserve. Some believe he will take a more “hawkish” approach, keeping interest rates higher, whereas looser monetary policy tends to support investment in assets such as crypto currencies.

Bitcoin prices have been trending down for the last four months, Deutsche noted, and there has been growing negative sentiment around cryptocurrency more broadly.

“This steady selling in our view signals that traditional investors are losing interest, and overall pessimism about crypto is growing,” it said.

While Deutsche does not expect crypto to disappear, it also did not predict Bitcoin would return to Trump-driven highs.

The bank said the digital token was moving from being a “purely speculative asset” into a more realistic phase as an asset that “needs to find its specific role”.

William Barhydt, chief executive of Abra Capital Management, an investment firm focused on crypto assets, agreed that cryptocurrency is maturing, but he expects prices to rebound.

“I wouldn’t say that it has to rebound, but I can’t see how it doesn’t,” Barhydt said, noting that this is not the first time Bitcoin has seen significant swings in value.

“The only way it doesn’t is if we end up in some kind of war,” Barhydt added.

Other popular cryptocurrencies are Ethereum and Solana. Their prices have both dropped roughly 37% so far in 2026.

According to CoinGecko, which tracks the performance of thousands of cryptocurrencies, the market has lost over $1 trillion in value in the last month alone and $2 trillion in value since the market peaked in October.

Stifel, a US-based investment and research firm, said in a note to investors that Bitcoin prices may drop as low as $38,000. The firm pointed to a new trend of cryptocurrency more closely following the prices of the US Dollar.

Last week, the dollar dropped to its lowest point in four years.

By BBC News