Asian Crypto Stocks Fall as Bitcoin Hits Three-Week Low
The global crypto market experienced significant turbulence on February 3, with Asian crypto stocks fall as Bitcoin plummeted to a three-week low of $91,163. The downturn was primarily fueled by rising concerns over escalating trade tensions and tariff wars, leading to heightened market fears.
The crypto stock downturn was particularly pronounced in Asia, with some of the region’s largest players taking a major hit. Japan’s Metaplanet, often compared to MicroStrategy due to its heavy Bitcoin treasury strategy, closed the trading day down by 9.44% on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Similarly, SBI Holdings, a key player in Japan’s crypto and blockchain sector, saw a drop of 3.60%.
In Hong Kong, well-established crypto firms like OSL Group, the city’s first licensed crypto exchange, lost 2.69% of their value, while Boyaa, the largest publicly traded Bitcoin holder in Asia, saw a more substantial loss of 4.64%. According to Justin d’Anethan, head of sales at token launch advisory firm Liquifi, these declines were tied to the ongoing trade war concerns, which spooked investors both in the traditional stock market and in the crypto sector.
“Their pronounced declines are linked to [the tariffs], whether you see it as the impact of a trade war on the general stock market, or the impact from the crypto downturn. You have an amplification as investors get fearful on either front,” d’Anethan stated.
While the broader Asian indexes took a hit, the crypto stocks suffered a much deeper decline. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index dropped 2.66%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng barely moved, down just 0.04%. The market’s decline came as the U.S. imposed tariffs on imports from China, Mexico, and Canada, which in turn triggered retaliatory tariffs from those nations, exacerbating fears of a full-scale trade war.
“While this initially doesn’t look crypto-related, tariffs hint at a potential trade war, leading to a broad sell-off in risk assets, which then include Bitcoin, Ether (ETH), and all other cryptocurrencies,” d’Anethan added.
Despite the market’s ongoing turbulence, the crypto sector is still in its Lunar New Year trading window, historically one of the most bullish periods for Bitcoin. However, these growing trade war fears now threaten to break Bitcoin’s impressive 10-year winning streak during this time.
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