Greenland dispute between USA and EU pushes Bitcoin down to $92,000
It’s not a good atmospheric start to the new week: After US President Donald Trump threatened France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland on Saturday with new tariffs over their Greenland policy, the EU now wants to strike back with a €93 billion tariff package against the USA. With this, transatlantic relations have reached a new low.
Not only stock markets felt this impact pre-market; the new dispute between the USA and the EU has also reached cryptocurrencies. The Bitcoin price fell on Sunday evening, after the EU’s countermeasures became known, by almost $4,000 within about two hours. The cryptocurrency dropped from around $95,500 to a daily low of $91,935. Currently, BTC is trading at approximately $92,500. Most recently, BTC was on an upswing and climbed to nearly $98,000 last week.
The sudden price drop triggered a wave of forced liquidations. Within 60 minutes, long positions worth over $500 million were liquidated. After stabilization attempts, Bitcoin is currently trading at around $92,600, which represents a decline of roughly 2.5 percent within 24 hours.
Tariff dispute as trigger
Selling pressure began after Trump’s announcement to impose tariffs on eight European countries starting February 1st: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Finland. The tariffs are initially set at 10 percent and are scheduled to rise to 25 percent by June 1st if no agreement is reached.
Trump explicitly linked the measure to US efforts to acquire Greenland, which escalated transatlantic tensions. The affected European governments responded sharply to the announcement. In a joint statement, they warned of a “dangerous downward spiral.” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen made clear: “Europe will not be blackmailed.”
Over the weekend, protests against US policy took place in Denmark and Greenland.
Macroeconomic uncertainty
Parallel to the Bitcoin crash, the gold price rose to a new all-time high of around $4,670. Analysts view this as a classic flight to safe havens amid geopolitical uncertainties.
Additional uncertainty is created by an upcoming US Supreme Court decision on Trump’s authority to impose tariffs via emergency powers legislation. The court is reviewing whether the President lawfully used the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to declare trade deficits a national emergency. A ruling against Trump could force the administration to refund tariffs already collected totaling over $100 billion.
Fragile market structure
On-chain data from Glassnode and CryptoQuant suggest that the recent rally toward $96,000 was driven primarily by derivatives trading rather than sustainable spot purchases. Analysts at CryptoQuant characterize the movement since late November as a possible bear market rally, as Bitcoin continues to trade below its 365-day average of approximately $101,000.
Liquidations over the past 24 hours totaled over $680 million according to CoinGlass, with approximately $600 million attributable to long positions. This indicates excessively optimistic positioning among market participants.
Altcoins were also hit hard: Solana fell 6.7 percent, while SUI and ZCash each declined 10 to 12 percent.
Outlook
While initial stabilization signs are emerging – the selling pace from long-term holders has slowed and spot purchases on major exchanges are increasing – analysts warn that the market remains vulnerable to further sharp movements due to thin liquidity and high leverage.
