XRP and Bitcoin Fall. Why Cryptos Are Struggling to Recover. — Barrons.com

By Callum KeownXRP and Ethereum prices tumbled early Monday, while Bitcoin edged lower as traders assessed the damage after a slump Friday.The price of Bitcoin edged 0.4% lower to $95,822 early Monday, according to data from CoinDesk, and is now up less than 3% so far in 2025. XRP, the popular altcoin that surged after President Donald Trump's election victory, fell 4% to $2.47 at the start of the week. The token is still up 19% in 2025 and 304% in the past six months.Cryptocurrencies tumbled Friday, in line with a stock-market slump as investors turned away from riskier assets. There was added pressure on cryptos as Dubai-based platform Bybit said hackers stole $1.5 billion worth of digital assets from its Ethereum coin digital wallet.The price of Ethereum, the world's second-largest cryptocurrency is down 4% to $2,698 over the past 24 hours.The worst hit cryptocurrencies from Friday failed to launch a rebound early Monday — out of keeping with premarket moves for U.S. equities, which rose ahead of the open.Cryptos have been responding to global events, both macroeconomic and geopolitical, recently and therefore moving in tandem with the U.S. stock market. However, the damaging hack seems to be keeping digital assets under pressure Monday.Write to Callum Keown 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.