Weekly Crypto Market Wrap January 27-February 2, 2025
During January, we practically saw bullish news every day, but the weekend decided that the party was over. Bitcoin crashed to $91,231, and the $97,500 support zone didn’t even try to save the situation. Altcoins? Better not ask—most dropped by 20%+. The reasons? Donald Trump unexpectedly decided to crash the markets with his tariffs, and ThorChain faced issues, with its RUNE token almost turning into LUNA 2.0. But let’s go step by step.
Black Swan: is RUNE on the brink of collapse? The market is already bleeding, but if you need an extra dose of fear—here you go. RUNE, ThorChain’s token, crashed so hard in just a few days that crypto investors are getting LUNA flashbacks. ThorChain is an AMM (automated market maker) that allows asset conversion across nine blockchains, and its liquidity is used by TrustWallet, OKX Wallet, and other wallets. It’s a useful product, and the token is important. But here’s what happened:
The ThorChain team changed its lending policy and stopped rewards. This triggered a cascading sell-off.
Unstaking RUNE takes 21 days, so validators haven’t even started selling yet, but FUD has already fueled panic.
The market was already falling, and this became a trigger for a total dump. Altcoins collectively plunged to new lows. Now everyone is looking at Monday—if a compromise isn’t found, alts could face an even bigger sell-off…
Is a trade war starting? If you thought the crypto market didn’t have enough problems, Donald Trump decided to add fuel to the fire. The U.S. President signed three executive orders imposing new tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico, and China. Canada and Mexico have already promised retaliatory sanctions, so this is just the beginning. And this isn’t just an economic war—markets have already started pricing in the risks, and in crypto, this immediately led to $2.1 billion in liquidations within 24 hours. Those who managed to short in time did well.
United States start buying Bitcoin. Arizona and Utah have approved the creation of BTC reserves. Seems like they got inspired by MicroStrategy and decided to prepare for a possible financial apocalypse.
Trump Media enters crypto. Donald Trump’s company is investing $250 million into SMA, ETFs, and BTC. Looks like Trump figured that if he crashed the market, he might as well buy in cheap.
MicroStrategy won’t stop. Michael Saylor does it again: +10,107 BTC for $1.1 billion. To buy Bitcoin, the company issued $563.4 million in perpetual preferred shares. Some companies sell shares to grow their business. MicroStrategy? To buy more BTC.
SEC approves new ETFs. The market is in panic, but the SEC just approved a Litecoin ETF from Canary Capital and the first combined BTC+ETH ETF from Bitwise. Maybe this will help bring the market back to the green zone?
Tether is making more money than anyone. Stablecoin issuer Tether has already made $13 billion in profits in 2024. And they say it’s hard to make money in crypto…
The crypto lobby reaches a new level. Senator Cynthia Lummis has created a subcommittee responsible for crypto regulation. Looks like Washington may soon have laws written not by 70-year-old politicians but by people who actually know the difference between BTC and the Solana blockchain.
A Czech Bank wants to become a crypto whale. Czech National Bank Governor Aleš Michl has stated that he is ready to invest “billions of euros” into Bitcoin. Looks like the Czech Republic might become the next El Salvador.
Gary Gensler returns… to MIT. The former SEC chairman is going back to MIT as a professor. Seems like regulating crypto turned out to be harder than explaining how it works to students.
Trump vs. BRICS. Trump is threatening 100% tariffs on BRICS countries if they attempt to create an alternative to the U.S. dollar. Looks like the economic war is just beginning.
Tether expands its influence. USDT is now supported natively in the Bitcoin ecosystem and on the Lightning Network. Another step toward making it the main payment tool in the BTC network.
A solo miner strikes gold. A solo miner successfully mined a Bitcoin block worth $326,301. One block—and they earned more than many people do in years. Seems like the crypto fairy was on his side.
Tesla and Bitcoin. Tesla reported $600 million in unrealized profit from its Bitcoin holdings in Q4 2024. Musk is still holding BTC, and the market knows it.
Upcoming major token unlocks:
XDC: $75.33m (5.2%)
MOVE: $29.79m (2.1%)
KAS: $16.89m (0.7%)
NEON: $14.21m (22.4%)
BANANA: $6.67m (7.0%)
GGP: $5.64m (11.6%)
SimpleSwap reminds you that this article is provided for informational purposes only and does not provide investment advice. All purchases and cryptocurrency investments are your own responsibility.
