Greenland dispute rattles markets, challenging bitcoin’s ‘digital gold’ status

Bitcoin (BTC $90,427.02) saw its “digital gold” narrative take another hit on Monday as prices dropped and traders scaled back expectations for a quick push to $100,000 by the end of January. The decline followed U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement of new tariffs targeting Denmark and seven other European nations.

Trump said on Saturday that countries opposing his plan to acquire Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory near North America, would face a 10% tariff. The European Union pushed back, pledging to defend Greenland’s sovereignty and criticizing the move as hostile to free markets and economic stability.

The geopolitical tension weighed on market sentiment. On the decentralized betting platform Polymarket, the probability of bitcoin hitting $100,000 fell to 27%, down from nearly 50% on Friday and 72% on Jan. 15.

Bitcoin briefly dipped toward $92,000 early Monday, according to CoinDesk data. The selloff rippled across the crypto market, with CoinDesk indexes for memecoins, metaverse, computing, DeFi, and culture & entertainment all falling more than 7%. Asian and European stocks also retreated, while gold climbed to record highs, highlighting a classic flight-to-safety move.

The drop underscores bitcoin’s continued correlation with equities despite the “digital gold” narrative promoted by its proponents, which casts the cryptocurrency as a safe-haven alternative to precious metals in times of geopolitical or macroeconomic uncertainty.

“Bitcoin has slumped for a fifth consecutive day, retreating from its November highs while struggling to hold above $92,000,” said Samer Hasn, senior market analyst at XS.com. He cited a combination of profit-taking and a broader “risk-off” shift driven by rising U.S. political and trade tensions.

On a positive note, bitcoin and ether spot ETFs drew $1.4 billion and over $500 million in inflows last week, marking their strongest performance since October. Large investors, or “whales,” holding 1,000–10,000 BTC also increased activity by 28% over the past week, according to BGeometrics data.

Analysts note that sustaining these trends will be key to any meaningful market rebound. According to Laser Digital, short-term price action will depend on developments in U.S.–EU tariff negotiations, ongoing geopolitical risks in the Middle East, and key upcoming events, including the Davos forum, U.S. GDP and core personal consumption expenditures data, and a pending Supreme Court ruling on the legality of Trump’s tariffs.