Bitcoin Falls, XRP Rises. How Trade Tensions Are Affecting Cryptos. — Barrons.com

By Brian SwintBitcoin gave up early gains on Monday but other other cryptocurrencies were rising after trade tensions between the U.S. and China reignited over the weekend.The move illustrates how crypto assets can benefit from two competing narratives about their value. On the one hand, they can be seen as safe havens when other assets are at risk. On the other, they often rise when riskier assets such as technology stocks are going up as well.The latest advance is more of a haven trade--gold futures were also advancing to start the week. Crypto is also getting a boost from recent promises from President Donald Trump's administration to make the U.S. the crypto capital of the world. Vice President JD Vance gave the keynote speech at a conference in Las Vegas last week in which he said crypto has a champion in the White House, referring to Trump.Bitcoin, the oldest and largest crypto, was down 0.3% after giving up earlier gains of 1%, slipping to $104,052. The digital asset advanced more than 10% in May and achieved a new record high above $111,000.Ethereum, the second-largest crypto, added 0.1% early Monday. XRP was up 0.5%. Solana added 1.3% and Dogecoin gained 0.7%.Write to Brian Swint at [email protected] content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.