🐳 Daily Edition: BTC Breaks $65k on Tariff Meltdown

A new 15% global tariff to replace the original Liberation Day rules hit the tapes as Tether bleeds $3B in 2 months

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Beluga & Will McKinnon
February 23, 2026

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While there are lots of factors in the crypto selloff today, the obvious direct catalyst is Trump’s weekend announcement of a new 15% global tariff regime to replace the Liberation Day rules which the Supreme Court voted down last week. As traditional equities don’t trade over the weekend, our favorite 24/7 market felt the brunt of the pain as Bitcoin broke under $65k and ETH fell to $1880.

24 Hour Heatmap, Source: CoinMarketCap

The news came at a time when the market is already quite fragile and liquidity is still in recovery mode from the mass liquidations we’ve seen since October. Data from CryptoQuant shows the USDT (Tether) supply has dropped by about $3B in the last 60 days, one of the largest contractions since the collapse of FTX.

One stablecoin going the opposite direction is BlackRock’s BUIDL, a yield bearing token backed by cash and Treasury bills. In the last 30 days BUIDL’s market cap has risen almost 40% to $2.46B, nearly half of what Tether bled in twice that time. We always said the plan was to sell our coins to the institutions… but somehow it seems they managed to sell us theirs.

Has technical analysis gone too far?

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Disclaimer

The content on this site is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice. While Beluga strives to ensure the accuracy and timeliness of information, there may be discrepancies when comparing our data to that of financial institutions, service providers, or specific product websites. Always consult with a professional before making any financial decisions. Will McKinnon is the Head of Content for Beluga and has spent every day for many years trading coins. For that reason there are too many to name, however his largest holdings by a significant margin are Ethereum and Bitcoin. NFA DYOR