Coinbase, Block and other crypto stocks jump as Bitcoin rallies past $30,000
Shares jumped in companies exposed to cryptocurrency prices and dynamism in crypto markets the following Tuesday
Bitcoin
surged past the key $30,000 level, marking the highest point since the digital asset bear market accelerated last summer.
Coinbase Global (ticker: COIN ) shares rose 3% in U.S. premarket trading Tuesday, with shares of Block ( SQ ) rising 1.2%. MicroStrategy ( MSTR ) shares rose 3.3% and shares of Riot Platforms ( RIOT ) and Marathon Digital ( MARA ) both gained 4%. Most of these five stocks also rose in Monday trading, as Bitcoin began trending sharply higher. Futures tracks
S&P 500,
by comparison, it was up 0.3% early Tuesday.
All of these companies are among a handful of stocks that tend to trade in tandem with the price of Bitcoin and digital assets more broadly. This is either because the companies own crypto or are otherwise exposed to dynamics in digital asset markets. With Bitcoin up 80% so far this year, many of these stocks have also rallied.
Coinbase is a crypto broker whose core business is facilitating the buying and selling of Bitcoin and other tokens for a largely private investor audience. Revenue is highly dependent on crypto trading volumes, which tend to rise and fall with Bitcoin prices as retail traders pour into the space amid bull runs. Coinbase stock is up 87% in 2023.
Block, on the other hand, not only owns Bitcoin, buy also allows customers to buy and sell the largest crypto through the Cash App platform. However, shares of Block have lagged somewhat this year, lagging behind Bitcoin’s rise to less than 6%. The share has come under pressure in the past month following a critical report from a short seller, which is an investor betting against shares in the payments group.
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Led by one of the highest profile Bitcoin bulls, Michael Saylor, as chairman, MicroStrategy is itself a crypto whale. The company is one of the few that has significant amounts of Bitcoin in its corporate coffers, and has continued to grow due to the rise in prices this year. As of its latest disclosure on April 5, between March 24 and April 4, the company and its subsidiaries bought about 1,045 Bitcoins for about $29.3 million in cash, bringing MicroStrategy’s total holdings to about 140,000 Bitcoins, worth around 3.9 billion dollars. MicroStrategy stock is up 120% this year.
In the case of Riot Platforms and Marathon Digital, both companies are Bitcoin miners. Their business involves using computers to solve complex cryptographic puzzles in a process that secures the Bitcoin network and processes transactions on the blockchain. Shares of Bitcoin miners took a hit last year amid falling prices, increasing competition and rising energy costs – making mining more expensive – but Riot shares have soared 210% higher this year with Marathon up 170%.
Write to Jack Denton at [email protected]
