Investing.com-- Bitcoin fell on Friday, extending a recent decline from record highs as heightened uncertainty over U.S. President Donald Trump's trade tariffs spurred sustained profit-taking in crypto.
The world's largest crypto was set for mild weekly losses, as it retreated from last week's peaks. More corporate buying action failed to lift prices, after Gamestop announced it had purchased over $500 million worth of coins.
Positive regulatory developments also offered limited support, as the Securities and Exchange Commission said it was dropping its lawsuit against crypto exchange Binance.
Bitcoin fell 1.3% to $106,267.6 by 01:44 ET (05:44 GMT).
Bitcoin faced extended profit-taking this week after it raced to a record high of over $111,000 last week.
Risk appetite was dented by vastly contrasting signals on Trump's tariff plans. An appeals court ruled on Thursday to temporarily allow Trump's tariff agenda, after a federal trade court ruled to block his tariffs earlier this week.
Trump lashed out against the judges involved in the trade court decision, and said he hoped that the Supreme Court will back his tariffs.
But analysts warned that prolonged legal sparring over Trump's tariffs only stood to increase market uncertainty over their impact.
Concerns over the economic impact of Trump's tariffs were a key weight on risk-driven assets this year, especially as a swathe of economic data pointed to U.S. weakness.
But this notion was marginally offset by a revised reading on first quarter gross domestic product, which showed the U.S. economy shrank slightly less than initially estimated.
The U.S. SEC on Thursday voluntarily dismissed its civil lawsuit against Binance, the world's biggest crypto exchange, reflecting a shift at the regulator from new management under the Trump administration.
The SEC dropped its case against Binance and founder Changpeng Zhao with prejudice, meaning that it cannot pursue the case again.
The regulator, under former Chair Gary Gensler, had sued Binance and Zhao in June 2023 on allegations of artificially inflation trading volumes, diverting customer funds, and unlawfully facilitating the trading of several crypto tokens that should have been registered as securities.
The case was separate from Binance's November 2023 guilty plea, which saw the exchange slapped with a $4.32 billion penalty for violating federal anti money laundering laws. Zhao had served a four-month sentence in prison.
Binance's token, BNB, showed little reaction to the SEC news, falling 1.1% to $674.20.