Bitcoin Edges Higher as Treasury’s Bessent Tempers China Trade Expectations

The price of Bitcoin added to yesterday’s gains, despite dipping earlier Wednesday after the Trump Administration’s latest zigzag on trade.

The leading cryptocurrency was recently trading hands around $93,400, up 2.2% over the past 24 hours, according to crypto data provider CoinGecko. It had fallen near $92,000 earlier in the day.

Ethereum and Solana  rose 5.3% to $1,780 and 4% to $150, respectively.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that U.S. President Donald Trump hasn’t made a one-sided offer to reduce tariffs on China, which can be up to 245% on certain goods, per Bloomberg. It may also take years to iron out a deal, he added.

Bessent’s posturing toward China appeared to represent a reversal from the day prior, when the official reportedly said at a closed-door investor summit that a deal with China could come soon and that Trump’s trade war was unsustainable for both sides involved.

From the Oval Office, Trump told reporters on Wednesday that tariffs on China “will come down substantially, but it won’t be zero,” per Fox Business. The president did not specify how low new tariffs rates could be but expressed optimism that a deal could “work out very well.”

Trump and Bessent’s recent remarks have provided investors with notable relief, according to Aurelie Barthere, principal research analyst at on-chain analytics platform Nansen. However, volatility could pick up again as negotiations with China continue, she told Decrypt.

“It feels like we’ve maxed out on tariff‑related fear,” she added. “While many remain uncertain about where things are headed over the next month or so, it also seems like markets were just waiting for the slightest signal that we’re back in the game.”

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 jumped 1.8% as tech-heavy Nasdaq surged 2.6%, according to Yahoo Finance. Strategy’s stock price climbed 1% to $346, while Coinbase increased 2.6% to $195 following a buy rating on initiated coverage from investment banking firm Benchmark.

While spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds have generated notable outflows amid Trump’s on-again, off-again approach to tariffs, they had “the strongest daily intake” since Jan. 17, Jake Ostrovskis, an OTC trader at the market maker Wintermute, wrote in a Wednesday note.

Investors poured $913 million into spot Bitcoin ETFs, led by the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB), which pulled in $267 million, according to crypto data provider CoinGlass. That was $200,000 shy of the ETFs best day in mid-November.

Edited by James Rubin