Crypto Rout Wipes Trump Gains | SEC’s Crusade On Crypto Ends

Bitcoin retreated more than 25% from its all-time high on Friday.

START INVESTING • Newsletters • MyForbes

Nina Bambysheva Staff Writer, Forbes Money & Markets

Follow me on X and Forbes.com

THE BIG SLUMP

Euphoria, it seems, has an expiration date. The latest crypto rally, fueled by hopes of a Trump-led regulatory thaw, just slammed into a wall. On Friday morning, bitcoin tumbled below $80,000, extending its drop to over 25% from its all-time high of $108,786, reached in late January. Other cryptocurrencies, including ether, XRP, and solana, followed with double-digit losses.

The trigger? A combo of macro jitters and a sudden exodus of liquidity. More than $1 billion drained from U.S. bitcoin ETFs on Tuesday in the biggest one-day outflow since their launch. Trump’s latest tariff saber-rattling (25% duties on Canada and Mexico are expected to go into effect on March 4 and an additional 10% levy on Chinese imports will be added the same day) spooked risk assets across the board, and cryptos were no exception.

SEC DROPS CRYPTO CASES

Case by case, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s crackdown on crypto firms is being undone. Over the past week, the agency dropped its lawsuit against Coinbase, closed investigations into Robinhood, Uniswap and OpenSea and agreed to dismiss its action against Consensys. In a further retreat, the SEC asked a federal judge to pause its case against crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun, who recently invested tens of millions of dollars in World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture tied to the Trump family. The judge granted the request.

The SEC’s retreat from its aggressive crackdown on crypto is being framed as a move to foster innovation, but critics see it as a wholesale dismantling of enforcement rather than a measured recalibration.

CURRENT PRICE OF TOP 5 COINS (7-Day % Change)

Coin

Price

Percent Change

Bitcoin (BTC)

$84,279

11.5%

Ether (ETH)

$2,219

15.7%

Tether (USDT)

$1.00

0.0%

XRP (XRP)

$2.15

14.6%

Binance Coin (BNB)

$588

7.9%

Sources: Forbes Digital Assets, CoinGecko. Prices as of 4:00 p.m. on February 28, 2025.

CME TO LAUNCH SOLANA FUTURES

CME Group, the world’s largest derivatives marketplace, is set to introduce solana (SOL) futures on March 17, pending regulatory approval. The new contracts, offered in 25 SOL and 500 SOL sizes, will be cash-settled, using the CME CF Solana-Dollar Reference Rate, which tracks SOL’s price daily at 4:00 p.m. London time.

“With the introduction of bitcoin and ether futures, CME Group paved the way for the broader institutionalization of crypto as an asset class and set the stage for more regulated financial products such as ETFs,” said Teddy Fusaro, president of crypto-focused Bitwise Asset Management. “The addition of these new contracts further demonstrates CME Group's leadership and its continued role in shaping the evolution of this dynamic asset class."

ELSEWHERE

Bank of America CEO Mulls Entering Stablecoin Business

Cointelegraph