Crypto Investors Scramble as Bitcoin Goes Belly-Up Amid Massive Sell-Off

The rise of cryptocurrency is the kind of speculative intangible investment that would have seemed ludicrous even 30 years ago. But now, crypto is everywhere; from Bitcoin to Doge, Ethereum, BNB, and more, it's omnipresent.

Risk-tolerant investors have looked at Bitcoin both mining and purchasing as an opportunity to get ahead of the next great thing in the economic boom: intangible assets.

Yet 2026 hit hard for crypto investors as Bitcoin took a massive kneecapping amid international economic uncertainty. Here's what we know about why Bitcoin crashed in January and February 2026, and why President Donald Trump may be involved in the crypto's stark winter.

Although investors in Bitcoin have to be relatively risk-tolerant, there's something to be said for the fact that it has been, up to this point, a steadily holding crypto, with a few wintry exceptions.

But 2026 proved that even the world's first major cryptocurrency isn't immune to economic uncertainty.

At the end of 2025, Bitcoin had surged to an impressive $125,000 a coin (via NBC News). Investors were feeling good and shoring up their portfolios, settling in to ride out what they thought would be a relatively safe investment, while more tangible goods, like precious metals, took a hit due to international conflicts and policies being flung around by Trump and his administration.

However, 2026 quickly proved that assumption wrong. Since the height on Oct. 2, 2025, Bitcoin has lost a jaw-dropping $1.2 trillion in value.

It's hard to pinpoint a single cause for the crash, but risk-averse investors are likely dumping intangibles as the stock market in New York starts to show signs of turbulence again. And in January 2026, Trump named a new Federal Reserve Chair, Kevin Warsh, which prompted a cycle of resetting assets, according to NBC. This is not an unusual reaction to a shake-up at the Reserve, but it's unusual in that it came just as people were already shifting investments, driving a massive sell-off.

With the sell-off causing the value of Bitcoin to plummet, crypto investors are starting to get nervous. Because what affects one almost always eventually ripples outward and affects the others.

And it may come down to the fact that Trump and his policies are unpredictable, making even risk-tolerant investors nervous about what comes next.

Trump has shamelessly promoted crypto since returning to office to serve his second and final term, even touting a "crypto reserve" for the United States to hold several of the major currencies in trust.

But Trump's own sons are heavily involved in crypto investment, and what was once seen as a crypto-positive administration that had investors hopeful now seems more like a Trump-positive administration.

Which means that the policies they expected to benefit all crypto actually seem to favor World Liberty Financial, which Trump and his family own an interest in (via Al Jazeera).

In general, it seems like a combination of self-absorbed policymaking, a shake-up at the reserve, and investors shifting their risk tolerance amid global insecurity is leading to Bitcoin taking a hit. It's just a matter of time before the rest of the cryptos feel the punch.

Whether this turns out to be a crypto winter or a permanent downturn is something experts are hotly debating.