If you’re just checking the biggest stock movers in Wednesday trading, you’re not seeing things. Strategy, Coinbase and Robinhood stocks are, in fact, among the best performers.
Strategy, the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, jumped more than 10%—crypto exchange Coinbase rose 14.6% and trading platform Robinhood was 8% higher.
The trio tend to move closely in tandem with cryptocurrencies and Wednesday is no different. The price of Bitcoin surged to $73,122, up more than 7% as of 4 p.m., according to Dow Jones Market Data.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency has not behaved like a haven—it’s down 42% from its record high of above $126,000 in early October, compared with gold’s 30% rise over the same period. But it has performed well since the U.S. attacked Iran at the weekend, after an initial slump to $63,000.
President Donald Trump may have had something to do with cryptos’ move higher Wednesday. Trump called for the Clarity Act, a regulatory framework for digital asset markets, to be urgently passed, attacking the banks for holding the legislation “hostage,” in a Truth Social post late Tuesday.
“The banks are hitting record profits, and we are not going to allow them to undermine our powerful Crypto Agenda that will end up going to China, and other Countries if we don’t get The Clarity Act taken care of,” he said.
Progress on the legislation’s approval stalled in January after a draft proposal including a ban on most “stablecoin rewards.” Coinbase and other firms wants to be able to pay customers a yield for keeping stablecoin holdings, but that’s threat to banks that pay low rates of interest on consumer accounts.
Stock markets were rising Wednesday as investors continued to weigh up whether the Iran War is likely to end soon. Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence reached out indirectly to the CIA with an offer to discuss terms to end the conflict, the New York Times reported early Wednesday.
But Bitcoin may actually also be benefiting from its huge drawdown. Highflying assets have been hit hard in recent days, including Sandisk and Micron, while poor performers such as software stocks have held up well. Even haven asset gold—up 20% this year—fell sharply Tuesday despite the Middle East conflict escalating.
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