There’s no avoiding the shockwaves from tariffs news this week — not even if you’re an investor in alt currencies that were supposed to be insulated from this sort of thing. Plus, meme coin creators are trying to earn a buck off that weird Studio Ghibli-style AI art trend. And what’s the deal with Ether, the Bitcoin rival that has shed about 43% of its value so far this year?
Here are some cryptocurrencies to watch this week.
Is the biggest cryptocurrency a sure thing in 2025? Is anything? Turns out, there’s little to feel certain about in the new era of mass layoffs, on-again, off-again tariffs, and stagflation fears.
Market uncertainty is one of the things that’s come to define the early days of the second Trump administration, and investors in cryptocurrencies and stocks alike will be looking for some clarity on April 2, when the president is expected to say more about tariffs.
Bitcoin and stock market performance sometimes correlate, but what happens next is really anyone’s guess. What’s clear is that the back-and-forth on tariffs has soured the crypto market so far this year.
Washington is still chattering about stablecoins, as Congress works toward passing industry-backed stablecoin rules and Democrats react to the Trump family’s plan to release a stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar.
While the term implies stability, stablecoins can and do become unstable when they’re unpegged from their target asset or currency. In February, Consumer Reports and other groups asked lawmakers to vote against the brewing House and Senate stablecoin bills, saying they “represent a crypto industry wish list, not an adequate regulatory regime that provides necessary oversight, customer protection, and stability.”
As its rival Solana grows, Ethereum is reportedly shedding developers, and its token Ether is lagging behind Bitcoin.
Since Jan. 1, Ether has cratered about 43% while Bitcoin has slipped about 10%. Ripple’s XRP, meanwhile, may appear to be somewhere else entirely — up 3.62% on the year, but it’s still vulnerable to chaos.
The fleeting boom of AI-generated, Studio Ghibli-style images on social media has triggered interest in meme coins inspired by the beloved animation studio.
No matter your feelings about Ghibli or Hayao Miyazaki’s past comments on AI, meme coins in general remain extremely volatile, and the SEC stated in February that it sees meme coins as “akin to collectibles” that “typically have limited or no use or functionality.”