Solana Falls 5% as Bitcoin Slips Below $80K Amid China-U.S. Tensions Over Taiwan
Crypto markets took a hard hit in Asian trading hours on Thursday after Bitcoin drops below $80,000, a support level it had held for most of the past week. BTC slid to around $79,200, down 2.3% over 24 hours and 2.2% on the seven-day chart, according to CoinGecko data.
The timing was no coincidence. Sell pressure built around the Trump-Xi summit in Beijing, the first visit to China by a sitting U.S. president in nearly a decade. Xi pressed Trump on Taiwan during their meeting at the Great Hall of the People, warning of a potential “collision or even clashes” if the issue is mishandled. Adding to the unease, China issued its official readout of Xi’s remarks before the meeting had even concluded, thrusting Taiwan squarely into the global spotlight and rattling risk sentiment across markets.
Solana led the broader crypto selloff with a 5.6% drop to $90, giving back most of the weekly gains that had made it the standout altcoin for the past two weeks. The scale of Solana’s decline was a sharp reversal for a token that had been outperforming its peers. Ether dropped 2.1% to $2,250, down 3% on the seven-day, the second-weakest performer among the majors after Bitcoin. BNB shed 1.6% to $660 but held onto a 3.9% weekly gain, while XRP slipped 1.7% to $1.43.
Not everything bled red. Dogecoin was the only major in the cohort to post a 24-hour gain, holding in positive territory at $0.1126, up 0.9% on the day.
The geopolitical shock wasn’t the only force at play. Bitcoin’s $80,000 floor cracked under back-to-back inflation surprises, with traders now watching $78,000 as the next key support level. The macro backdrop has grown increasingly complicated as persistent inflation data complicates the Federal Reserve’s path forward, squeezing risk assets across the board.
Asian equity markets traded choppily around the summit, though AI-linked technology shares and names like Cisco continued to outperform, a divergence that underscores how selective the market has become in its risk appetite.
With Bitcoin drops below $80,000 now a confirmed break rather than a brief dip, traders will be watching closely whether the next line of defence at $78,000 holds, or whether the twin pressure of geopolitics and inflation pushes the market into deeper correction territory.
Recall that Glostarep had earlier reported that Bitcoin climbed above $81,https://glostarep.com/bitcoin-rebounds-above-81000-hot-cpi-bnb-doge-lead-crypto-gains/ following strong CPI report
