LONDON, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Bitcoin fell below $90,000 on Tuesday to its lowest level since Nov. 18 as concerns about U.S. tariffs compounded a blow to cryptocurrency investor confidence from last week’s $1.5 billion ether hack on the Bybit exchange.

Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market value, fell 7.25 percent on the day to $87,169.76. Global investors are uneasy about signs that the so-called exceptionalism of the U.S. economy may be fading, while U.S. President Donald Trump prepares to impose tariffs.

Trump said on Monday he still plans to impose 25 percent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico from early March, while safe-haven U.S. Treasury prices surged, with yields falling to two-month lows.

In a sign of market unease, prices of safe-haven U.S. Treasuries surged, with yields falling to two-month lows.

"The macroeconomic situation is the main reason for the price drop in the past few hours," said Marcel Heinrichsmeier, crypto asset analyst at DZ Bank.

"The Bybit hack and memecoin turmoil in the past few weeks have led to a general worse crypto market sentiment than at the beginning of the year."

While Bitcoin fell nearly 8% last week, small-cap altcoins were hit harder. Memecoin, Dogecoin, and tokens of the Solana and Cardano networks all fell about 20%, according to CoinGecko.

"It's not surprising that the crypto market has seen such a brutal sell-off, given that we just experienced the largest hack in history. In addition, concerns about global tariffs have exacerbated the situation," said Charles Wayn, co-founder of decentralized blockchain platform Galxe.

Delayed reaction

Dubai-based Bybit, the world's second-largest exchange after Binance, said last week that hackers stole about $1.5 billion worth of digital tokens.

Blockchain research firm Elliptic said the hack was "almost certainly the largest single theft ever."

Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market value, fell 8.46% to $2,414.29, its lowest level since October.

Joseph Edwards, head of research at Enigma Securities, said Tuesday's sell-off appeared to be a "delayed reaction to the Bybit hack."

"Markets react unusually well to expected major destabilizing events... but lateness often pays a price...

"We've seen classic examples where a slight contraction in risk has led to a small cascading sell-off in the cryptocurrency market."

The shift in sentiment is partly due to U.S. policy changes that have not met expectations.

A few months ago, optimism that the Trump administration would support strategic bitcoin funds and ease regulations gave investors confidence that bitcoin would rise again, with prices breaking through $100,000 in December.

But apart from a series of cryptocurrency-friendly officials appointed after he took office, there has been little concrete news for investors.

In addition, investors have been withdrawing money from bitcoin-backed exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Data from the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) showed that the largest ETF had a net outflow of about $644 million per month, the highest level since its launch in January 2024.