Bitcoin Jumps as US Treasury’s Bessent Hints at ‘Perceived Progress’ on Trade Negotiations

The price of Bitcoin jumped as high as $91,684 on Tuesday as investors weighed whether Washington’s tit-for-tat with Beijing on tariffs could come to a sooner-than-expected end.

Bitcoin was recently up 4.5% over the past 24 hours, losing some ground from earlier in the afternoon but still on track to register its largest day gain since April 9, when the asset surged 8.3%, according to Bitcoin CounterFlow. That was the day that U.S. President Donald Trump lowered “reciprocal” tariffs on nearly all nations to 10% while focussing his trade war on China with steeper levies.

Beyond Bitcoin, altcoins and meme coins were in the green. Solana-based Fartcoin popped 21% to $1.08 as Dogecoin leapt 9% to $0.17, according to crypto data provider CoinGecko. The price of Ethereum and Solana rose 8% and 6% to $1,700 and $145, respectively.

During a closed-door event hosted by JP Morgan in the country’s capital, U.S. Treasury Scott Bessent said that a trade war with China was unsustainable for both nations involved, and he expects a de-escalation will come soon, per Bloomberg News.

Reports of Bessent’s remarks eased jitters on Wall Street stemming from tariffs, which economists fear could slow growth and raise costs in the U.S. After sliding roughly 3% on Monday, the S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq each rose 2.3%, according to Yahoo Finance.

“Traditional and crypto markets alike are benefiting from perceived progress on tariff negotiations,” Strahinja Savic, head of data and analytics at Toronto-based crypto merchant bank FRNT Financial, told Decrypt. “Today’s rally is likely finding some additional support from the last few weeks where BTC’s safe haven thesis seems to have gained new credibility.”

After Trump’s trade war threatened to plunge the U.S. into a trade conflict with its largest trading partners, there were signs that the president’s team was willing to de-escalate elsewhere.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt affirmed that “progress is being made” in trade negotiations, adding that the Trump Administration now has “18 proposals on paper.”

The White House’s trade team, which includes Bessent and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, is meeting with 34 countries this week, Leavitt continued.

Although Bitcoin and equities were up on Tuesday, the  leading cryptocurrency showed signs of diverging yesterday as it mirrored gold’s climb, Alice Liu, head of research at crypto data provider CoinMarketCap, told Decrypt. 

“The fact that BTC is rallying while risk-on assets are faltering is a powerful signal of growing market confidence, especially from institutional investors seeking alternative stores of value,” she said.

Edited by James Rubin