Trump’s Tariffs Are Gonna Affect Crypto ₿

Elon Curved DOGE || Arthur Hayes Is FREE ✊🏽

Author

Token Metrics Daily
March 30, 2025

It’s a new week, family 💛

But Maybe not the one that starts with a glowing portfolio.

On April 2nd, President Trump will roll out his economic ‘Chakra’: reciprocal tariffs.

And if there’s anything we know about crypto, it’s how sensitive it is to news of tariffs.

My prayer this week? May the grand forces of Nakamoto combat the Tariff Chakra. 

To today’s stories ===>>

Market Watch 🔍

Bitcoin’s latest push for a $90k rally has cooled as the coin dipped 6% over the weekend to $81.4K, with ETH and SOL faring even worse—down 11% and 10%, respectively. 

Equities dragged crypto lower, as the S&P tumbled over 3% and QQQ shed 5%, while gold hit a fresh all-time high at $3,100/oz. 

The macro clouds darkened further with President Trump’s latest tariff push, sparking fresh volatility fears as Trump continues to feel “very good” about the April 2 rollout.

Altcoin sentiment remains in the gutter, best illustrated by ETH ETF flows, which have seen nearly two months of consistent outflows. (Oh Vitalik, do something!)

Yet, a few tokens managed to swim against the tide—FORM, TON, MKR, and BERA showed resilience, while meme-fueled names like Fartcoin and Pleb kept onchain traders entertained. 

Meanwhile, unlocks worth $751 million (including SUI and DYDX) are coming to the market this week, with a far bigger $4.4 billion wave expected in May.  

As markets brace for impact, portfolio managers are already shifting gears—safe-haven assets are climbing, U.S. Treasury yields are slipping, and risk appetite is drying up. 

The real question before us today is whether Bitcoin and its crypto cousins can weather another macro storm or if this is just the beginning of another risk-off cycle.

We’ll find out on April 2.

A Pardon and a Fine 👨🏽‍⚖️

Who gets pardoned? Who gets fined?

Donald Trump’s latest clemency to BitMEX co-founders Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo, and Samuel Reed is making the markets excited as they try to piece together why crypto and presidential pardons are consistently in the headlines. 

The trio, along with former business development chief Gregory Dwyer, previously pleaded guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act by failing to implement proper anti-money laundering measures. 

Prosecutors alleged that BitMEX functioned as a “money laundering platform” and that its retreat from the U.S. market was a mere façade.

While Hayes and friends walk free, Michael Novogratz's Galaxy Digital isn't as lucky. 

The New York State Attorney General has slapped the firm with a staggering $200 million fine over allegations of market manipulation involving Terra’s infamous LUNA token.

According to court filings, Galaxy quietly acquired 18 million LUNA tokens at a steep discount in 2020—before going on to aggressively promote the asset while offloading its holdings behind the scenes. 

The firm allegedly misled investors into believing LUNA had real-world use cases, helping drive its price from $0.31 in 2020 to an all-time high of $119 in 2022. 

Even Novogratz himself seemed to buy into the hype, famously getting a LUNA tattoo—only for his firm to dump thousands of tokens at peak prices.

Now, Galaxy is paying the $200M price. 

PumpDEX Masterclass: How to Innovate 🏗️

PumpSwap is making an aggressive case for market dominance. 

The decentralized exchange, launched just 10 days ago by the memecoin platform Pump.fun, has already processed an eye-watering $2.5 billion in cumulative trading volume—staking its claim as the second-largest Solana-based DEX behind Raydium. 

The numbers are staggering: nearly 700,000 wallets have accessed the platform, over 30 million swaps have been executed, and liquidity providers have pocketed more than $5 million in fees.

At its core, PumpSwap is rewriting the script on how memecoins transition from launchpad hype to active trading. 

What’s more mind-boggling it that these numbers are showing up despite an over 80% slump in the memecoin market cap.

So what happens when memecoins rise again🤯?

Raydium, which once saw up to 50% of its AMM volume driven by Pump.fun tokens, has taken a hit but isn’t going down without a fight. Its own memecoin launchpad, LaunchLab, is sti

Meanwhile, Uniswap, once the heavyweight of decentralized trading, has seen its trader count on Ethereum shrink by 45% since the start of the year, with monthly volumes dropping 22% in February. 

While Uniswap’s decline may be attributed to broader market cycles, the rise of specialized platforms like PumpSwap underscores a key reality in crypto: adapt or fade into irrelevance.

Elon Dodged DOGE?

The internet’s favorite memecoin just got a reality check—straight from Elon Musk. 

The Tesla CEO and de facto leader of the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (D.O.G.E.) has shut down speculation that Dogecoin would have any official role in the agency’s operations. 

"There are no plans for the government to use Dogecoin or anything as far as I know," Musk said during a town hall meeting, throwing cold water on crypto enthusiasts who had seen the department’s name as a bullish omen.

The rumors weren’t entirely unfounded. When President Trump took office in January, D.O.G.E.'s official website briefly displayed the Dogecoin logo, fueling speculation that Musk—a longtime DOGE proponent—was finally bringing the memecoin into the big leagues. 

But Musk clarified that the agency’s name came from an internet suggestion, not a grand plan to make Dogecoin a government-backed asset. 

"The names are similar, but they're doing two very different things," he said, emphasizing that D.O.G.E. is focused on cutting inefficiencies in federal spending, not mooning memecoins.

Despite its growing influence—claiming to have saved the U.S. government $130 billion since its launch—D.O.G.E. is facing mounting legal scrutiny over its aggressive cost-cutting measures. 

Meanwhile, Dogecoin itself took a hit, dropping 3.2% in 24 hours as investors adjusted their expectations. 

Musk may still be Dogecoin’s most famous supporter, but for now, the only thing D.O.G.E. is pumping is budget efficiency—not crypto portfolios.

Meme of The Day

What The Coin Is Going On? 🪙

  1. Nowadays, everyone, their moms, and their billion-dollar companies want to hold Bitcoin. You can blame Bitcoin for always pumping the stocks of companies that associate with it—as Marathon Digital is about to find out with its $2bn Bitcoin buy plan.

  2. Memecoins can pump hard, die fast, or do both. Imagine $5,000 invested in SHIB two years ago. Curious how much that’ll be now?

  3. Jay Clayton, President Trump’s pick to Police Wall Street’s financial crimes, is holding on to stocks like Apollo, American Express, and more. Time for a Clayton tracker?

  4. Collapsed crypto empire FTX will begin major repayments to users in two months. Here’s how that’s gonna go.

  5. Get clear takeaways from today’s episode on Spotify or Apple. 

That’s all for today, folks.    

Have a great day, and speak tomorrow
Your Friend At Token Metrics 💛

Reply

or to participate.

© 2025 Token Metrics.