Bitcoin stalls below $92,000 as privacy coins rally; crypto miners surge on Meta AI news

Bitcoin (BTC) struggled to break free from its tight range on Monday, dipping below below $91,000 as Donald Trump said he would impose a 25% tariff against all countries that trade with Iran.

"Effective immediately, any country doing business with the Islamic Republic of Iran will pay a tariff of 25% on any and all business being done with the United States of America," he said in a social post.

The late afternoon action followed another rangebound day for BTC, reversing twice from the $92,000 level through the day, up 0.8% over the past 24 hours. Ether (ETH) hovered below $3,100, down 0.6% during the same period.

While most of the crypto market remained flat, privacy-focused tokens stole the spotlight. Monero (XMR) jumped 15% to break above $600, Zcash (ZEC) gained 7%, and Ethereum-adjacent Railgun (RAIL) soared more than 30%. The moves came despite Dubai, a key digital asset hub, banning privacy coins from exchanges, underscoring that investors continue bidding censorship-resistant tools despite regulatory pushback.

Crypto miners rallied as social media giant Meta’s newly-announced "Meta Compute" initiative, aimed at building large-scale AI infrastructure, boosted sentiment for data center and high-performance computing sector. Iren (IREN) surged nearly 10%, while Bitfarms (BITF), Riot Platforms (RIOT), Bitdeer (BTDR) and Cipher Mining (CIFR) followed with 6–8% gains.

On the macro front, gold and silver pushed to fresh record highs as investors continued to favor precious metals as safe-haven assets. The move came as U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell confirmed that federal prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into him, marking the latest escalation in tensions between the central bank and the Trump administration.

BTC and ETH face key resistances

BTC remains capped by a dense resistance zone between $93,500 and $95,000, a level that has repeatedly rejected upside attempts in recent weeks, Bitfinex analysts noted in a Monday report.

"Bitcoin is advancing into a dense supply zone," the report said. "Until this supply is worked through, the market is likely to remain range-bound, with risk appetite rebuilding gradually rather than transitioning immediately into a renewed impulsive uptrend."

Bitfinex also highlighted a "clean" derivatives slate, noting that options open interest has nearly halved from $52.5 billion to $28.6 billion. That sharp reset removes legacy dealer hedging flows, potentially allowing for more accurate price discovery based on current sentiment, the report said.