The virtual asset market posted a record plunge last week, wiping out $131 billion (about 182 trillion won). Bitcoin fell 13%, and some altcoins crashed 80%, stoking investor fear. In the market, there is analysis that U.S. President Donald Trump's remark about a "100% tariff on Chinese imports" acted as a catalyst.
According to Bloomberg and Cointelegraph on the 14th (local time), more than one-third of the roughly $380 billion in total virtual asset market capitalization evaporated in this crash. In particular, $131 billion disappeared in the altcoin sector alone, which was assessed as exposing structural vulnerabilities stemming from low liquidity and reliance on speculative trading. As President Trump's tariff threat shocked global risk assets across the board, investors dumped most crypto assets including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and meme coins. Right after Trump posted on his social media (SNS) Truth Social, $20 billion worth of leveraged positions were liquidated across exchanges.
On this, virtual asset research firm 10x Research said, "The market structure collapsed rapidly," and noted, "Altcoins have degenerated into a gambling den with unclear intrinsic value that depends on liquidity provision by a handful of traders." The Trump-related meme coin "Trump Official" plunged 37%, and World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a coin linked to the Trump family, posted a similar decline. Some meme coins were traded based on social media memes such as "Shiba Inu" and "Pepe," but without real demand they plunged in an instant.
Cointelegraph reported, "According to liquidation heat map data (an indicator visualizing price ranges where leveraged positions cluster), selling pressure concentrated around the $120,000 zone for Bitcoin, and some leveraged long positions are exposed down to $98,000." On centralized exchanges (CEX), open interest fell 45% in a week, and traders are hesitating to enter new positions. A market analyst said, "No one can be sure where the bottom is right now," adding, "If Bitcoin fails to hold the $110,000 level, further declines are likely."
Experts assessed this episode as the largest structural correction since the 2022 Luna crisis. John Todaro, an analyst at investment bank Needham & Co., said, "Even large assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum are underperforming stocks and gold," adding, "This is an abnormal market where the rewards are small but the risks are excessive."
Meanwhile, the market sees the afternoon of the 19th, when Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Bitcoin futures and U.S. stock futures open, as a watershed for this correction. If traditional financial markets reinforce a risk-off stance, further declines will be inevitable, but conversely, if institutional buying flows in, it could become a turning point for a short-term rebound.
Evgeny Gaevoy, CEO of virtual asset market maker Wintermute, said, "This shock will structurally shrink the altcoin market," and predicted, "An ecosystem based on speculative coins is no longer sustainable." Bloomberg reported, "This plunge may be a signal not of a short-term correction but of the end of the virtual asset speculation cycle."