This Week in Bitcoin: Trump Tariffs and DeepSeek Fuel Plunges, But Tether Is Coming

It was another action-packed week for Bitcoin, and the price of the coin is sitting comfortably above $100,000 again—despite substantial swings fueled by the news cycle.

CoinGecko shows that the biggest digital asset is currently sitting at $101,880 after a turbulent week. That's a drop of nearly 3% over the past week.

Things started off rocky, with the crypto market taking a hit after Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek released a new open-source large language model late the previous week.

This powerful and much more cost-efficient model led tech investors to rapidly sell their stakes in American AI-related companies and crypto positions. At one point, Bitcoin was priced as low as $98,380 on Monday.

But it recovered fast, and the asset leapt back above the $100,000 mark after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell hinted that another interest rate cut was possible if inflation continued to cool. His comments on banks being able to handle crypto services also fueled optimism.

Bitcoin, XRP and Dogecoin Fall Fast as Trump Tariffs Confirmed

The price of Bitcoin dove under $101,600 Friday after President Donald Trump’s administration confirmed that tariffs on China, Mexico, and Canada are imminent. The plunge has pushed Bitcoin down by nearly 3% over the past day at a current price of $102,060. During a press conference, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the president will soon implement 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada, while China will face 10% tariffs. The taxes on imported goods will take effect when the tar...

But then on Friday, word that President Donald Trump's tariffs against Canada, Mexico, and China will begin Saturday helped push Bitcoin and other assets down again. After nearly touching $106,000 on Friday morning, BTC plunged below the $102,000 mark that afternoon—and remains there as of this writing.

ETF flows

Last week was a big week for Bitcoin, with money flowing hard and fast into the new Bitcoin exchange-traded funds—largely thanks to crypto-friendly President Donald Trump's inauguration. Nearly $1.6 billion worth of assets entered Bitcoin ETFs last week.

Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs Add $1.9 Billion During Trump's Busy First Week

Crypto investment products pulled in nearly $2 billion last week as shifting attitudes toward emerging technologies in Washington, D.C., sustained strong demand for digital assets. The products, which include spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, saw $1.9 billion in inflows in the seven-day period through January 25, down 13% from the week prior, CoinShares data shows. That marks the second consecutive week inflows have hovered around $2 billion.  Investors have so far poured $4.8 billion into digital...

Things slowed down this week, with investors on Monday pulling out nearly $458 million out of the funds, data from Farside Investors shows.

By Thursday, over half a billion had entered the vehicles—but that's pretty slow going compared to last week, when investors pumped over $800 million into the ETFs on Tuesday alone.

Tether on Bitcoin

Perhaps the biggest news of the week was stablecoin giant Tether announcing digital dollars on the Bitcoin network. On Thursday, the company behind said its native USDT token would soon be available across both Bitcoin's base layer and the Lightning Network.

Tether’s USDT Is Coming to Bitcoin and the Lightning Network

Tether, the world’s largest stablecoin issuer, is coming to Bitcoin.  USDT, the company’s dollar-backed stablecoin, will soon be fully functional across both Bitcoin’s base layer and the Lightning Network, a Bitcoin scaling network, Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino announced onstage Thursday at a Bitcoin conference in El Salvador. The integration marks a significant milestone for both Tether and Bitcoin, two dominant forces in crypto that had yet to combine forces. At a market capitalization of over $13...

USDT is the world's top stablecoin, and Bitcoin is the world's biggest crypto network. Elizabeth Stark, CEO of Lightning Labs, the company building the integration, said that "millions of people will now be able to use the most open, secure blockchain to send dollars globally."

Ripple vs. the Bitcoin reserve?

Hardcore Bitcoiners are going after fintech Ripple, as the company—whose founders made XRP—get chummy with President Trump.

Last week, the President signed an executive order on crypto, but it didn't specifically mention Bitcoin—despite his campaign promise to stockpile the orange coin.

Is Ripple 'Undermining' Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Plans? Here’s What’s Going On

American crypto firms are still basking in their electoral victory after pulling off a remarkable political comeback and gaining influence in D.C. last November—but does a brewing civil war among their ranks now threaten to call the honeymoon off? Last week, President Donald Trump issued a much-anticipated executive order on crypto, making good on a promise to deliver the industry a grab-bag of wishlist items. While the order thrilled many, it was the document’s omission of a single word that th...

Now, Bitcoiners are alleging that Ripple is pushing to have XRP, the third-biggest cryptocurrency by market cap, in the new administration's "digital asset stockpile."

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse responded to the allegations on X in a Monday post, writing that "if a [government] digital asset reserve is created... it should be representative of the industry, not just one token."

Trump's new fintech eyes Bitcoin

Meanwhile, the President's Trump Media and Technology Group said it would launch a financial services and fintech arm called Truth.Fi. According to the company's announcement, Truth.Fi may buy "Bitcoin and similar cryptocurrencies or crypto-related securities."

Trump Media Launches Fintech Brand With Bitcoin and Crypto Focus

President Donald Trump's media empire is expanding into financial services and could soon buy Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Trump Media and Technology Group, which runs Trump's social media platform, Truth Social, announced Wednesday that it would launch a financial services and fintech arm called Truth.Fi. As part of a diversification strategy, Truth.Fi may buy "Bitcoin and similar cryptocurrencies or crypto-related securities" with $250 million cash that will be custodied by Charles Schw...

But the wording was vague, and the $250 million cash that the fintech wanted to allocate to crypto will be in the hands of Charles Schwab—who would invest it via ETFs.

While some of Trump's recent moves come in his official capacity as president and others are from his personal companies or licensees, they may be causing mixed messages for Bitcoiners who supported him during the campaign.

Edited by Andrew Hayward