Bitcoin Unaffected as Markets Shrug Off Trump’s Critical Tweets

Donald J. Trump has just tweeted his disapproval for cryptocurrency.

On Thursday evening, the US president stated in a tweet that unregulated crypto assets possess the ability to facilitate unlawful behavior, so far the markets have been slower to react.

Having rose from a local low of $11,187 to $11,532 late evening on July 11, BTC was on the up moments before Trump's tweets began.

In under an hour on June 12 at 00:15 UTC, BTC began to cool, dropping back toward its local low before another surge brought prices back to the $11,400 level.

BTC is currently changing hands at $11,384 so it seems as though for now, the president's tweets are having no effect on short-term traders.

Late Thursday evening the president took to Twitter to offer his sentiment on digital assets, highlighting his administration's stance on crypto.

I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air.

It’s a charged response to the ongoing debate over how to adequately regulate Facebook’s proposed Libra project and the subsequent push-back being felt on a global scale. As a result the markets have begun to digest the onset of definite regulation and increased attention from policy makers by reflecting that in BTC's price.

While the move down may seem like an eggregious reaction, the event is not unlike others felt in the past.

For instance from June 26 to July 2 of this year, the price of BTC fell more than 29 percent from a top of $13,800 down to $9,600 before a sharp rally brought prices back above $12,000 in quick succession.

Time will tell on whether Trump's anti-crypto sentiment is reflected in his administration's stance, impacting BTC's long-term price or whether this is another bump in the road for global digital asset adoption.

Disclosure: The author holds no cryptocurrency at the time of writing

Trump via Shutterstock