Bitcoin buying power rushes to 'Sell America'... Digital gold on the rise [Decenter Market Status]

Bitcoin (BTC) is once again demonstrating its presence as a 'digital gold'. As the New York stock market plummeted and the dollar weakened due to Donald Trump's attacks on the Federal Reserve (Fed) and uncertain tariff policies, BTC broke through $88,000, recording this month's highest level.

According to the global virtual asset market site CoinMarketCap on the 22nd, BTC is up 2.71% from the previous day at $87,137.66. It rose to as high as $88,404.57 around 11 PM the previous night, showing its highest level this month. Ethereum (ETH), the second-largest market cap, is trading at $1,577.24, down 0.16%, while XRP is up 0.31% at $2.074.



In the domestic market, BTC continued its strong performance. Based on Bithumb, BTC is down 0.71% to 125,438,000 won. ETH dropped 2.86% to 2,722,000 won, and XRP fell 1.90% to 2,990 won.

Bitcoin's strength is a result of the stock market's sharp decline and preference for safe-haven assets. On the 21st (local time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2.48%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq dropped 2.36% and 2.55% respectively. AI leader Nvidia declined 4.5%, and Tesla fell 5.8% a day before its earnings report.

In contrast, the virtual asset market showed a different trend from this risk-averse market. Lawrence McDonald, former US macro strategy head at French investment bank Societe Generale, evaluated that "BTC has never performed so well when the volatility index (VIX) is approaching 30". He interpreted this trend as a sign of market maturity and analyzed that structural stress is being applied to existing fiat currency systems, including the US dollar.

The trend of BTC and gold rising in tandem while traditional assets like stocks and the dollar show weakness is interpreted as reflecting investors' concerns about Trump's Fed pressure and policy uncertainty. On this day, Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social, criticizing Jerome Powell, the Fed chairman, as "a major loser and Mr. Too Late", pressuring him to lower interest rates immediately or risk an economic slowdown. With US-China tariff negotiations also at a standstill, overall financial market uncertainty is further escalating.

According to crypto data company Alternative.me, the Crypto Fear & Greed Index rose 2 points to 39 points, continuing to be in a state of 'fear'. This index indicates that the closer it is to 0, the more investment sentiment is suppressed, while closer to 100 indicates market overheating.

Reporter Do Ye-ri

yeri.do@sedaily.com