In brief
- Shares of crypto companies rose in price alongside digital assets and major stock indices.
- The price surge comes after Federal Reserve Jerome Powell indicated that the central bank could cut rates next month.
- Bitcoin and Ethereum were also trading higher on Friday, with ETH and altcoins leading the charge.
Crypto-focused company stocks rose Friday alongside digital coins following a more dovish-than-expected speech from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
Nasdaq-listed Coinbase (COIN) spiked and was recently trading more than 6% higher on the day at $319. Meanwhile, Bitcoin treasury and software firm Strategy—MSTR—was up by nearly 65 to $354. Both had been trading down in recent days, but COIN is now in the green over the past week while MSTR remains slightly down during the span.
And Circle, which debuted on the New York Stock Exchange in May in a blockbuster IPO, jumped higher. The stablecoin giant was recently priced 6% higher over the past day, currently at $140, but had shown a 9% leap earlier in the morning.
Elsewhere, leading Bitcoin miners, CleanSpark (CLSK) and Riot Platforms (RIOT) rose by 5% and nearly 9% on the day, respectively, to nearly $10 and above $13.
Crypto treasuries like SharpLink and BitMine Immersion—which focus on buying and holding Ethereum, the second biggest digital coin—both jumped by more than 12%, hitting nearly $20 and $54.
Broadly, stocks are up on the day, with The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbing higher by 880 points, or nearly 2%, touching a new high. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 climbed 1.45%, and the Nasdaq rose by 1.6%.
The rise in equities comes as leading cryptocurrencies Bitcoin and Ethereum also jump. Bitcoin was recently priced at $116,318, up 3% in the hour after Jerome Powell spoke, CoinGecko data shows. Ethereum spiked higher by nearly 8% in one hour. The coin was recently trading for $4,740, about $130 away from its all-time high mark from 2021.
Over the past day, Bitcoin and Ethereum were up 3% and nearly 12%, respectively.
An interest rate cut would likely help cryptocurrency and tech stocks. Both assets have typically done well in the past in a low interest rate environment, as traders are more drawn to risk assets.
U.S. President Donald Trump has been pressuring Powell to cut rates, frequently insulting the Fed chair on Truth Social and even threatening to fire or even sue him.
The Fed started aggressively raising rates in 2022 in an attempt to control 40-year high inflation brought on by COVID-19. The central bank then started cutting borrowing costs again last year as the economy cooled.
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