NEW YORK – A sudden and severe crash in the cryptocurrency market, sparked by former US President Donald Trump’s announcement of harsh new tariffs on China, has resulted in billions of dollars in losses and has been linked to the tragic death of a prominent Ukrainian investor.
The market turmoil began after Trump posted on social media platform X that he would impose 100 per cent tariffs on “any and all critical software” from China, dramatically escalating trade tensions between the two economic superpowers. The announcement triggered immediate panic among investors, who feared the onset of a new, wide-ranging trade war.
Major cryptocurrencies Bitcoin and Ethereum led the plunge, each falling over 12 per cent and experiencing record liquidations. As fear spread, investors rapidly moved their assets out of volatile cryptocurrencies and into stablecoins or traditional safe-haven assets. Reports indicate that in the last 24 hours, leveraged bets worth more than $19 billion were wiped out.
Amid the financial bloodbath, the human cost of the crash came into sharp focus with the death of Konstantin Galish, a Ukrainian crypto investor and blogger known online as Kostya Kudo. Galish was reportedly found dead in his Lamborghini on Saturday. While authorities are investigating, his death is widely linked to the devastating market collapse that occurred on Friday.
The incident highlights the extreme volatility and high-stakes nature of the cryptocurrency market, where rapid price swings can have catastrophic financial and personal consequences. The event also underscores how traditional geopolitical actions, like the threat of tariffs, can directly and violently impact the digital asset space.
