Here’s what happened in crypto today

Today in crypto, US President Donald Trump announced a 90-day tariff pause for certain countries, excluding China, where tariffs have been increased to 125%. The geopolitical turmoil could hike crypto mining rigs prices in the US. Meanwhile, Argentina’s Chamber of Deputies has approved an investigation into President Javier Milei’s promotion of the Libra memecoin.

Trump pauses some tariffs, boosts China’s

United States President Donald Trump issued a 90-day pause on “reciprocal tariffs” and lowered the tariff rate to 10% on countries that do not retaliate with counter-tariffs.

The president also said he would increase the reciprocal tariff rate on China to 125% due to the country’s counter-tariffs against the US. Trump wrote in an April 9 Truth Social post:

“At some point, hopefully, in the near future, China will realize that the days of ripping off the USA, and other Countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable.”

According to data from TradingView, the S&P 500 index rallied close to 7% following the announcement, showcasing the high volatility of capital markets amid the macroeconomic uncertainty and the potential for a protracted trade conflict.

Argentine lawmakers back Milei probe in Libra crypto scandal

Lawmakers in Argentina’s Chamber of Deputies backed an investigation into President Javier Milei’s alleged involvement in the Libra (LIBRA) cryptocurrency scandal.

According to an April 8 report by local news outlet Buenos Aires Times, deputies in the lower house voted 128 to 93 in favor, with seven abstentions. The same proposal previously failed to move forward in the Senate.

The news follows Milei promoting the LIBRA memecoin on social media. With the Argentine president leveraging his credibility as a government official and his 3.8 million followers, the token quickly reached $5, briefly touching a market cap of $4 billion.

Milei has since faced accusations of wrongdoing, with critics claiming that LIBRA was a rug-pull scam and that he lured investors in. Lawyer Jonatan Baldiviezo, alongside Marcos Zelaya, engineer María Eva Koutsovitis and economist Claudio Lozano, a former head of Argentina’s central bank, filed a lawsuit against Milei, accusing him of fraud.

According to Baldiviezo, Milei’s promotion was instrumental in an “illicit association” with the promoters of the cryptocurrency. The non-governmental organization Observatorio del Derecho a la Ciudad shared the concerns and filed a case that accused the president of promoting a scheme that reportedly resulted in over 40,000 investors losing more than $4 billion.

Trump tariffs could lower crypto miner prices outside US: Hashlabs CEO

US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs could collapse US demand for Bitcoin mining rigs to the benefit of non-US miners as manufacturers will look outside the US to sell surplus stock for cheaper, says Hashlabs Mining CEO Jaran Mellerud.

Mellerud said mining machine prices would likely rise in the US and fall in the rest of the world as rig makers will “need to lower prices to attract buyers in other regions.” That, he said, may allow non-US mining operations to scale up and take a larger slice of Bitcoin’s total hashrate.

Trump unveiled “reciprocal tariffs” on nearly every country on April 2 and some of the largest crypto mining machine makers are based in countries such as Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia that will be hardest hit by the tariffs.

Crypto mining rig makers Bitmain, MicroBT and Canaan originally moved to some of these countries to circumvent a 25% tariff that Trump imposed on China in 2018 during his last administration.

Mellerud added even if Trump later drops the tariffs, “the damage is done — confidence in long-term planning has been shaken,” Mellerud said.