Bitcoin, XRP Erase Gains. What's Driving Crypto Today. — Barrons.com

By Elsa Ohlen and Anita HamiltonBitcoin and other cryptocurrencies failed to break out of their slump Tuesday, after wiping out most of the gains seen since President Donald Trump announced plans to create a strategic reserve of cryptos.But they had begun to pare some of their earlier losses by mid afternoon. Bitcoin was up 2.5% to $87,805 over the past 24 hours, according to CoinDesk data. The price of the world's largest cryptocurrency jumped to $95,136 after Trump announced the reserve on Sunday.Most cryptos popped Sunday in response to the news. But Tuesday afternoon, of the five cryptos singled out by Trump for inclusion in the strategic reserve — XRP, Cardano, Solana, Bitcoin, and Ethereum — only XRP and Cardano had held onto real gains since before the announcement. Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solona were all trading around the same prices as before the announcement."Sentiment in the cryptocurrency market has returned to extreme fear territory," FxPro analyst Alex Kuptsikevich said Tuesday, noting that it is at its second-lowest level in more than 2 1/2 years. Only on Thursday was sentiment worse.Pressure in other markets has clipped the cryptocurrencies' wings, Kuptsikevich added. The tariffs the president had threatened against Mexico and Canada took effect Tuesday, sending markets lower. The Nasdaq Composite briefly slid into correction territory, before moving into the green. The S&P 500 was down 0.3%.Sunday's executive order to potentially include altcoins XRP, Solana, and Cardano in a U.S. crypto strategic reserve was also ill-received by the Bitcoin community, said Michael Terpin, CEO of Transform Ventures, a blockchain communications firm."While providing tax incentives to American crypto companies is a good idea, a strategic stockpile should only include the highest quality, truly decentralized digital asset: Bitcoin," Terpin said. "Adding secondary cryptos controlled by companies and foundations would be akin to adding gold mining and energy stocks to the strategic gold and oil reserves."XRP, the digital coin used to facilitate and settle payments on the Ripple platform, rose 5.8% to $2.51, while Ethereum gained 2.8% to $2,171, according to CoinDesk.Solana rose 1% to $143 and Cardano rose 11% to 94 cents.Write to Elsa Ohlen at [email protected] and Anita Hamilton 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.