The crypto market is on fire today, continuing a weeklong run since the election took place. Investors are betting that a more favorable SEC and Congress will lead to more funds flowing into the industry, and ultimately innovation.
Tokens are moving big, but so are crypto-related stocks. Coinbase(NASDAQ: COIN) was up as much as 23.7% in trading today, MicroStrategy(NASDAQ: MSTR) is up 23.9%, Mara Holdings(NASDAQ: MARA) popped 31.2%, and Riot Platforms(NASDAQ: RIOT) was up 23.9% at its peak. The stocks were up 21.5%, 23.3%, 29.2%, and 18.5%, respectively, at 3 p.m. ET.
Bitcoin rules the day
Bitcoin(CRYPTO: BTC) has been the biggest cause of the moves in the market today. The impact on miners is clear because Bitcoin is the direct output of the mining they do, so if Bitcoin climbs, their revenue will go up. But they also benefit from the Bitcoin being held on their balance sheets.
Mara had 18,488 Bitcoin on its balance sheet at the end of the second quarter of 2024 and bought another $100 million more to exceed 20,000 Bitcoin in early August. Riot Platforms said it held 10,928 Bitcoin on its balance sheet as of October 2024.
Neither company could come close to MicroStrategy, which bought another 27,200 Bitcoin this month and now holds 279,420 Bitcoin. The company is the largest leveraged play on the cryptocurrency, even using its stock and debt to buy more of the crypto near all-time highs.
Trading jumps across the board
While the increase in Bitcoin's value is often seen as a positive for Coinbase, the real driver of the business is trading volume -- and that's gone through the roof. After hovering between $1 billion and $2 billion per day earlier this year, volume is now $7.8 billion in the last 24 hours, as of this writing.
This will likely drive a sharp increase in Coinbase's revenue in the fourth quarter, and profitability and cash flow should improve as well.
What's in store for crypto in 2025 and beyond?
The fog of speculation is heavy today, and investors seem to be buying anything crypto-related on the hope a new presidential administration will make more favorable policy decisions. But most tokens themselves haven't been restricted in the U.S. -- it's what companies can do on the blockchain to sell assets or build businesses that have been in a gray area.
So, if there are changes to the regulatory environment, I'm not sure tokens like Bitcoin will be the beneficiaries like they are today. I think it's much more likely that blockchain infrastructure and stablecoins will do well, which is why Coinbase is the one stock I'm bullish on here.
There's a lot of innovation to be unlocked on the blockchain, and Coinbase has the stablecoin (USDC), blockchain (Base), trading platform, and other services for developers and business owners to make real businesses here. That's where I think there will be true innovation over the next decade, not in tokens moving up and down. But today, that's all the market is thinking about.
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Travis Hoium has positions in Coinbase Global. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin and Coinbase Global. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
