Continued wave of encrypted asset sales, Bitcoin price falls below $90,000.

Under the impact of a series of unexpected events such as a large-scale hacker attack, the global digital asset market has experienced a comprehensive sell-off. The trading price of Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, even fell below the important support level of $90,000, marking a new low since November, becoming one of the hardest-hit assets in this round of cryptocurrency sell-off. Since Donald Trump took office as US president, the price of Bitcoin has dropped by nearly 20%, with macroeconomic factors and major negative events in the cryptocurrency field collectively undermining investor confidence in the cryptocurrency market. At 8:00 am London time on Tuesday, the price of Bitcoin was trading at around $89,400, falling more than 6%, marking the lowest price since November 18. Other popular cryptocurrencies also saw significant declines, with Ethereum and Solana both plummeting by over 10%. The sharp decline in prices of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, occurred against the backdrop of a widespread sell-off in digital assets, shifting market sentiment from the "cryptocurrency investment frenzy" that followed Trump's victory in the US presidential election. The key trigger for the sell-off includes the largest-scale hacker attack in cryptocurrency history on the Bybit exchange, as well as a meme coin scandal involving Argentine President Javier Mile. Since Trump took office in January, the price of Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, has fallen by nearly 20%. In addition to the two major negative factors persistently affecting the cryptocurrency market, the Trump administration's tough stance on tariffs against allies and geopolitical opponents has also shaken investor optimism, mainly driven by concerns of rising inflation due to tariff policies, leading investors to anticipate that the Federal Reserve may not cut interest rates this year to control inflation. On February 15, 2025, Argentine President Javier Mile publicly endorsed a meme coin named LIBRA on social media, claiming it "promotes the development of small and medium-sized enterprises" and included a contract address. The market value of LIBRA soared to $4.5 billion within 30 minutes after the tweet was posted, but then plummeted by about 90%, causing a loss of over $4 billion in market value and triggering strong skepticism towards so-called "meme coins" in the market, even driving resistance to cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin and Ethereum. Subsequently, on February 21, 2025, the third-largest global cryptocurrency exchange, Bybit, was hacked, with approximately $1.5 billion worth of 401,000 Ethereum (ETH) stolen. The attackers used a phishing website impersonating the multi-signature wallet service provider Safe, lured Bybit internal signatories to authorize transfers, tampered with smart contract logic to conceal the real signature interface, and ultimately controlled the cold wallet to complete the fund transfer. The stolen funds were then converted to Bitcoin (BTC) through the cross-chain bridge Chainflip and dispersed to 48 wallet addresses. The Bybit hack highlights the vulnerability of cryptocurrency exchange network defense technology, while the LIBRA scandal reveals the risk of celebrities manipulating the cryptocurrency market. "The massive hacker attack caused by the security vulnerability on Bybit is just the latest installment in a series of black swan events," said Caroline Moron, co-founder of Orbit Markets, a cryptocurrency derivatives liquidity service provider. "The issuance of meme coins, which has long been questioned by the market, and other events, are awakening painful memories of chaos in the cryptocurrency industry among market participants." The chaos in the cryptocurrency industry that Moron mentioned refers to the cryptocurrency market crash that occurred after the collapse of the stablecoin TerraUSD in May 2022 and the subsequent crash triggered by the collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange empire founded by Sam Bankman-Fried. The severe turbulence in the cryptocurrency market contrasts sharply with the risk appetite wave that emerged after Trump returned to the White House. Following Trump's victory on November 5, Bitcoin surged, but has since given up all gains for the year. The current trading pattern in the cryptocurrency market contrasts starkly with the strong bullish sentiment that drove the "Trump cryptocurrency bull market" at that time, highlighting the high volatility characteristic of the digital asset market.