Coinbase and MicroStrategy Stock’s Rise to Highs with BTC & ETH Comeback

MicroStrategy, a prominent business intelligence firm, recently saw its stock reach a near two-year high, with shares closing above $500 on Black Friday. This peak, last observed in December 2021, has elevated the company’s market capitalization to $7.33 billion. This surge in investor interest is largely attributed to the company’s profitable Bitcoin holdings.

The firm, one of the largest institutional holders of Bitcoin, began purchasing the cryptocurrency in August 2020 as an inflation hedge, as explained by founder and chairman Michael Saylor. Despite a rocky start to the year with a quarterly loss, MicroStrategy’s stock price saw a significant upturn within a month. “That’s why all of us are fairly bullish over the next 12 months,” Saylor mentioned in a CNBC interview. “Demand’s going to increase, supply’s going to contract, and this is fairly unprecedented in the history of Wall Street.”

Despite a net loss of $143.4 million in its most recent quarterly report, the company continued its Bitcoin acquisition, adding another 6,067 Bitcoin for $167 million. Currently, MicroStrategy holds about 0.75% of Bitcoin’s total circulating supply.

COIN Hits 18-month High

In parallel, Coinbase, America’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, witnessed its stock (trading as COIN on the Nasdaq) reach an 18-month high. The surge in COIN’s stock, now trading at $115.75 per share, coincides with the increasing prices of top digital coins like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Over the past month, COIN’s value has escalated by over 41%.

Coinbase’s growing prominence comes as major Wall Street firms, including BlackRock and Fidelity, choose it as their custodian or surveillance-sharing partner for their spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) applications. A Bitcoin ETF would allow traditional investors to gain crypto exposure through shares that track the digital asset’s price. Currently, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is reviewing several applications for such products.

Most cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, had struggled to regain their pre-Terra crash values. However, they are now showing signs of recovery, with Bitcoin surpassing $38,000 and Ethereum nearly hitting $2,131 according to CoinMarketCap data.