PANews reported on April 9 that Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies fell on Wednesday after Trump took additional tariff measures, according to The Block. Kevin Guo, director of HashKey Research, said: "Investors were cautiously optimistic that the recent sell-off might have bottomed out, but the tariff increase caught many off guard, forcing them to reassess their investment strategies and risk appetite." Analysts said that Bitcoin's latest price trend shows that the cryptocurrency is still "deeply integrated" with the US economy. Lennix Lai, global chief commercial officer of OKX, said: "I think it's premature to say that Bitcoin is decoupling from traditional markets. Although there are signs that Bitcoin's correlation with the stock market is weakening, it is still linked to global liquidity conditions, and gold remains a hedge against geopolitical instability."
However, market experts are optimistic about Bitcoin's potential to become the premier digital store of value in the future. Nick Ruck, director of LVRG Research, said: "Once investors recognize the long-term value of Bitcoin, rather than just viewing it as a risky asset, Bitcoin has the opportunity to truly become digital gold. At present, Bitcoin's fundamentals are largely affected by the mining trade effect, such as tariffs on mining machine chips, although speculative factors still play a more important role." Meanwhile, Rick Maeda, an analyst at Presto Research, believes that the chaos caused by tariffs may ultimately be beneficial to Bitcoin's long-term trend. Maeda said: "The implementation of tariffs, while worrying, may mark a shift from uncertainty to certainty, which may stabilize risk sentiment. If macro concerns ease or tariffs prompt negotiations, cryptocurrencies may not only rebound, but also resume their structural upward trend."
