By Elsa Ohlen

Bitcoin price rose early Wednesday as hopes of a de-escalation in trade tensions between the U.S. and China trade perked up markets.

Bitcoin is up 2.3% to $96,701 over the last 24 hours, according to CoinDesk data.

Ether rose 1.4%, XRP climbed 1.5% and Solana edged up 0.6%.

Futures tracking the S&P 500 were up 0.5%.

"We don't want to decouple [with China], what we want is fair trade," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview on Fox News late Tuesday.

"We've agreed to talk," he said.

Cryptocurrencies tend to suffer in an uncertain economic climate, such as during a trade war. That is because investors typically prefer safe-haven assets like low-risk bonds and gold during times of uncertainty, leading to the price of risk assets like cryptos to drop.

If the U.S. and China starts moving toward a trade deal, that could significantly reduce uncertainty in markets and calm investors nerves.

The U.S. currently has a 145% levy on all imported goods from China while Beijing has imposed a 125% tax on U.S. goods.

Bessent, together with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, will meet Chinese officials this week in Switzerland to discuss the matter.

"My sense is that this will be about de-escalation, not about the big trade deal but we've got to de-escalate before we can move forward," Bessent said.

Write to Elsa Ohlen at elsa.ohlen@barrons.com

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May 07, 2025 03:55 ET (07:55 GMT)

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