Economy News

Bitcoin falls below $70,000 for the first time since Trump's election win

Bitcoin fell below $70,000 on Thursday 5 February for the first time since Donald Trump won the US presidential election in November 2024. New Straits Times, carrying AFP, reports it dropped as low as $69,821.18 before briefly recovering. Its record high was $126,251.31, reached in October 2025.

The slide went further. Dawn reports a low of $66,675.12, its weakest level since October 2024, leaving bitcoin down 11% for the week and 23% for the year. Ether fell more than 7% to $1,973 and silver as much as 16.6% to $73.41. According to CoinGecko data cited by Dawn, the crypto market has lost $2 trillion since peaking at $4.379 trillion in early October, about $800 billion of it in the last month.

“It's clear the crypto market is now in full capitulation mode.” — Nic Puckrin, Coin Bureau, via Dawn

Both outlets point to Trump's choice of Kevin Warsh to lead the Federal Reserve. AFP says the nomination reassured traditional markets, gold and silver plunged, and many investors sold crypto and other risky assets to raise cash. Dawn says investors expect Warsh could shrink the Fed's balance sheet; a Julius Baer analyst said: “The market fears a hawk with him.”

How each outlet framed it

• New Straits Times (AFP) — the politics: a broader crypto law, the Clarity Act, stalled in the Senate, and Trump's own crypto ventures.
• Dawn — the numbers: a deeper intraday low, ether and silver losses, and a $2 trillion wipeout across crypto.
• Semafor — the broken promise: Trump vowed to make the US “the crypto capital of the planet”, yet bitcoin hit about $65,000, citing the New York Times on one of the industry's worst crises since FTX in 2022.

Where the numbers differ: the lows depend on timing. AFP's first report has $69,821.18, Dawn $66,675.12 later in the session, and Semafor about $65,000 the next day.