Tech & Crypto Assets Rocked by Economic Storm: What’s Next in 2025?

Markets reel as tech stocks and cryptocurrencies face brutal sell-offs. The Nasdaq bleeds red while Bitcoin flirts with key support levels—is this a buying opportunity or the start of something uglier?

When Growth Gets Punished

Institutional investors are dumping risk assets faster than a hot NFT project. The Fed's latest rate hike sent shockwaves through speculative markets, proving once again that Wall Street's 'risk-on' switch has an off position.

Crypto's Resilience Test

Major altcoins show unusual correlation with tech equities—a worrying sign for decentralization maximalists. Ethereum gas fees hit yearly lows as traders hunker down. 'Store of value' narratives get stress-tested like a DeFi protocol facing its first bear market.

One hedge fund manager quipped: 'Turns out digital gold tarnishes faster than the real thing when the VIX spikes.' Ouch.

In brief

• The main crypto stocks like Coinbase, Riot and CleanSpark experienced a sharp drop at the end of the week, in a context of high volatility.
• Bitcoin’s fall below $115,000 amplified the losses of crypto stocks, revealing their strong correlation with the BTC price.
• The return of trade tensions, with the threat of new tariffs imposed by the Trump administration, increased investor nervousness.
• All these factors create an unstable environment where risky assets, like cryptos, face increased pressure.

Mixed results and the sharp drop of crypto stocks

While bitcoin weighed down by the trade war fell below $115,000, major U.S. companies listed in the crypto sector were harshly punished on Friday, amid a global pullback of risky assets.

Coinbase (COIN) saw its share drop about 16 %, extending a decline already underway after the publication of its quarterly results the day before.

Although the trading platform recorded $1.5 billion in revenue in the second quarter, its transaction volumes, a key indicator of its activity, are declining. This decline weighs on the quality of results.

Indeed, although the net profit reported reaches $1.4 billion, management specifies that “excluding investment gains, the actual net profit amounts to only $33 million.”

At the same time, Riot Platforms, specialized in bitcoin mining, fell 7 %, despite financial results well above expectations. As for CleanSpark, which has not recently published results, its stock plunged along the general sector trends.

These downward moves were amplified by the fall in bitcoin price, which dropped below $115,000, compared to nearly $120,000 at the beginning of the week. Here are the main indicators for each company :

• Coinbase (COIN) : a 16 % drop during the day. Q2 revenue is $1.5 billion, but transaction volume is declining. Its actual net result excluding investments is $33 million.

• Riot Platforms (RIOT) : a 7 % drop despite solid performance. Q2 revenue is $153 million, including $85.1 million from mining. Earnings per share is $0.98.

• CleanSpark (CLSK) : the drop is here without recent fundamental element. In the latest report published in May, the company recorded +62.5 % revenue year-over-year.

These corrections illustrate how much crypto stocks remain hypersensitive to market volatility, particularly to the bitcoin price. They behave like financial levers. When BTC declines, these stocks incur multiplied losses.

A shaky macroeconomy and the resurgence of trade tensions

Beyond company results, markets reacted to a combination of economic signals considered worrying. On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics published a monthly employment report in the United States showing the creation of only 73,000 non-farm jobs, compared to 100,000 expected by economists.

This data revived fears of a slowdown in U.S. growth. “While investors saw the start of the rate cut cycle as a positive catalyst, today’s figures rather represent the scenario bad news = bad news,” declared Jeffrey Schulze, strategist at ClearBridge Investments.

He also warned that the combination of a fragile labor market and rising trade tensions could lead to job contraction in the coming months.

Meanwhile, the prospect of new customs barriers has added to the climate of uncertainty. The TRUMP administration published a revision of tariff schedules ahead of the August 1 deadline for renegotiating a trade agreement.

The details of the measures notably mention tariffs, with an acceleration of inflation, ranging from 10% to 41 %, with a specific 40 % tax on goods imported via routes circumventing existing tariffs. For many investors, this resurgence of aggressive protectionism echoes the trade tensions of 2018–2019 and could compromise the stability of international trade. In this context, values linked to crypto, seen as high risk, are mechanically under pressure.

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