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

By Elsa OhlenBitcoin and other cryptocurrencies fell hard early Tuesday, all but wiping out the gains seen over the two days since President Donald Trump announced plans to create a strategic reserve of cryptos.Bitcoin is down 8% to $82,986 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 late Sunday and early Monday in response to the news. But out of the five cryptos singled out by Trump for inclusion in the strategic reserve — XRP, Cardano, Solana, Bitcoin, and Ethereum — only XRP and Cardano are trading marginally higher than they did 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 S&P 500 was down 1.5% after the index fell 1.8% on Monday.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, fell 9.9% to $2.36, while Ethereum was down 9.5% to $2,069, according to CoinDesk.Solana fell 14% to $135 and Cardano dropped 14% to 83 cents.Write to Elsa Ohlen 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.