Cryptocurrency markets saw a temporary drop after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would announce tariffs on aluminum and steel in the latest salvo of what appears to be an escalating U.S.-led trade war.

Arweave, the cryptocurrency project known for permanent data storage solutions, has debuted the mainnet version of its computing platform AO after a year-long trial period.

Major financial institutions have been increasing their gold price forecasts over a confluence of factors including escalating trade disputes and aggressive accumulation from central banks. A surge in the price of the precious metal would benefit tokens backed by it.

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• Cryptocurrencies Dip After Trump Announces Steel and Aluminum Tariffs
• Czech President Signs Bill Exempting Long-Held Bitcoin from Capital Gains Tax
• Gold-Backed Cryptos Shine as Major Banks Raise Gold Price Forecasts

Cryptocurrencies Dip After Trump Announces Steel and Aluminum Tariffs

Cryptocurrency markets saw a temporary drop after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would announce tariffs on aluminum and steel in the latest salvo of what appears to be an escalating U.S.-led trade war.

Trump said that 25% tariffs are set to be levied on any “steel coming into the United States” along with any aluminum, while his administration is set to pursue reciprocal tariffs on countries imposing import fees on American goods.

“If they are charging us 130% and we’re charging them nothing, it’s not going to stay that way,” Trump was quoted as saying. Following the announcement of these tariffs, cryptocurrency markets endured a short-lived dip.

The drop saw bitcoin (BTC) drop below the $95,000 mark before recovering. The cryptocurrency is now trading at $97,700, while the second-largest digital asset by market cap ether saw a dip to little over $2,500 and is now at $2,600.

Trump has notably outlined plans to potentially impose tariffs on the European Union, as well as on semiconductors, oil, gas, steel, and copper.

Arweave’s Computing Platform AO Goes Live on Mainnet

Arweave, the cryptocurrency project known for permanent data storage solutions, has debuted the mainnet version of its computing platform AO after a year-long trial period.

The move unlocks the transferability of native tokens minted and distributed to AR holders. AO, which is characterized as a “hyper parallel computer” by developers, introduces a distributed computing environment with parallelized processing.

Its architecture leverages Arweave’s foundational technology of immutable and perpetually accessible data store, ensuring the integrity of and longevity of AO’s computational processes.

The introduction of AO is anticipated to bolster Arweave’s ecosystem by driving demand for its storage services. Its core developers have said AO will support a new wave of decentralized applications, including on-chain autonomous agents.

Gold-Backed Cryptos Shine as Major Banks Raise Gold Price Forecasts

Major financial institutions have been increasing their gold price forecasts over a confluence of factors including escalating trade disputes and aggressive accumulation from central banks. A surge in the price of the precious metal would benefit tokens backed by it.

Strategists at both Citigroup and UBS this week released updated projections for gold, anticipating it will rise amid growing geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainties. Citi pointed to a short-term target of $3,000 per ounce, and increased its average for the year to $2,900, while UBS’ 12-month target is at $3,000 per ounce.

Gold-backed cryptocurrencies have been benefitting from this trend, with tokens like PAXG and XAUT exhibiting performance comparable to that of the precious metal. These tokens, backed by physical gold stored in secure vaults, have been outperforming the broader cryptocurrency market amidst the prevailing uncertainty.

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