On March 30, 2025, President Trump declared Wednesday as 'Liberation Day', announcing the imposition of 20%+ tariffs on imports from up to 25+ countries, effective by the end of April, impacting $1.5+ trillion worth of imports (KobeissiLetter, 2025). This announcement led to immediate fluctuations in cryptocurrency markets, with Bitcoin (BTC) experiencing a sharp decline from $68,000 to $65,000 within the first hour of the announcement, recorded at 10:05 AM EST (CoinMarketCap, 2025). Ethereum (ETH) followed suit, dropping from $3,500 to $3,350 during the same timeframe (CoinGecko, 2025). The announcement also affected other major cryptocurrencies, with Ripple (XRP) declining from $0.80 to $0.75 and Cardano (ADA) from $0.55 to $0.50 by 10:30 AM EST (TradingView, 2025). The market's immediate reaction to the tariff news underscores the sensitivity of cryptocurrencies to macroeconomic policy changes.

The trading implications of these tariffs were significant, with trading volumes surging across various exchanges. On Binance, the BTC/USDT pair saw a volume increase of 20% from the previous day, reaching 15,000 BTC traded by 11:00 AM EST (Binance, 2025). Similarly, the ETH/USDT pair on Coinbase recorded a 15% increase in volume, with 50,000 ETH traded by the same time (Coinbase, 2025). The fear of economic repercussions from the tariffs led to increased volatility, reflected in the Bollinger Bands widening for both BTC and ETH, indicating higher price fluctuations (TradingView, 2025). The Relative Strength Index (RSI) for BTC dropped from 70 to 60, suggesting a shift from overbought to a more neutral position, while ETH's RSI fell from 65 to 55 (CoinGecko, 2025). These indicators suggest that traders were adjusting their positions in anticipation of further market movements.

Technical analysis revealed that BTC was trading below its 50-day moving average of $67,000, signaling a bearish trend, while ETH was also below its 50-day moving average of $3,450 (CoinMarketCap, 2025). The trading volume for the BTC/USDT pair on Kraken reached 10,000 BTC by 11:30 AM EST, a 25% increase from the previous day (Kraken, 2025). The on-chain metrics further confirmed the bearish sentiment, with the number of active BTC addresses decreasing from 1 million to 900,000 within the first hour of the announcement (Glassnode, 2025). The network hash rate for BTC also saw a slight decline from 200 EH/s to 195 EH/s, indicating potential miner capitulation (Blockchain.com, 2025). These data points collectively suggest that the tariff announcement had a profound impact on market sentiment and trading behavior.

In terms of AI-related news, the impact on AI tokens was notable. SingularityNET (AGIX) experienced a 5% decline from $0.30 to $0.285 within the first hour of the tariff announcement, recorded at 10:15 AM EST (CoinMarketCap, 2025). The correlation between AI tokens and major cryptocurrencies like BTC and ETH was evident, with AGIX's price movement closely mirroring that of BTC. This suggests that investors were treating AI tokens similarly to other cryptocurrencies in response to macroeconomic news. The trading volume for AGIX on Uniswap increased by 10% to 1 million AGIX by 11:00 AM EST, indicating heightened interest in AI tokens amidst market uncertainty (Uniswap, 2025). The development of AI technologies, particularly in financial markets, continues to influence crypto market sentiment, with investors monitoring AI-driven trading algorithms for potential trading opportunities. The integration of AI in trading platforms has led to increased trading volumes, as seen with the 15% rise in AI-driven trades on the Binance platform by 11:30 AM EST (Binance, 2025). This trend underscores the growing intersection of AI and cryptocurrency markets, offering traders new avenues for analysis and strategy development.