Bitcoin (BTC-USD) traded higher on Thursday as global risk sentiment improved after US President Donald Trump walked back his plan to impose new tariffs on European allies amid his push to acquire Greenland.
The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization (BTC-USD) rose around 1% over the past 24 hours to hover near $90,000 (£66,902), moving along with equities in Asia and Europe. The broader cryptocurrency market cap rose 2.7% to $3.18tn during the same period, according to CoinGecko data.
Read more: Live crypto prices
President Donald Trump signaled a diplomatic shift on Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, saying he would not pursue military action to acquire Greenland and had reached “the framework of a future agreement” on the Danish territory with NATO allies.
The remarks injected fresh volatility into crypto markets. Bitcoin (BTC-USD) fell to an intraday low near $87,300 before rebounding to $90,000 as traders reassessed US trade policy risks and broader macro conditions. More than $625m in leveraged crypto positions were liquidated over 24 hours, split roughly equally between longs and shorts across 150,000 traders, according to Coinglass market data.
Analysts said the episode highlighted how digital assets are reacting more directly to geopolitical and macro news.
“Today’s sharp price swings highlight how closely crypto markets are following geopolitical and political developments,” said Rachel Lin, CEO of SynFutures, noting that Trump’s signals on Greenland negotiations and a pause on potential EU tariffs “briefly improved global risk sentiment, leading to a rapid rebound in bitcoin along with US equities.”
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Speaking to Yahoo Finance UK, Lin added that while the move was news-driven, they “reflect a deeper change in market structure,” describing bitcoin (BTC-USD) as “behaving increasingly like a macro asset, reacting to changes in policy expectations and broader risk appetite.”
Longer term, she said, institutional participation is supporting the evolution of bitcoin (BTC-USD) as “a maturing and globally relevant asset class, even amid elevated volatility.”
Global shares rose as Trump withdrew his threat to impose additional 10% tariffs on eight European countries, including the UK, after receiving what he called the “framework of a future agreement” in NATO discussions on Greenland.
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In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei gained nearly 2%, while South Korea’s Kospi broke above the 5,000 level for the first time. European markets opened higher, with the FTSE 100 up 0.7% at the open.