Bitcoin Rally Is Lifting MicroStrategy, Coinbase Stocks. What's Next. — Barrons.com

By Elsa Ohlen

Crypto-linked stocks including MicroStrategy, Coinbase Global, and Robinhood popped in early trading Monday as Bitcoin continued its surge over the weekend.

Shares of Bitcoin-buyer MicroStrategy, which does business as Strategy, were up 2.8% to $446.69 in premarket trading.

The company, led by Executive Chairman Michael Saylor, published its latest weekly filing on Bitcoin purchases Monday morning. Over the past seven days, it bought 4,225 Bitcoins for an average price of $111,827, the company said.

That might come as a relief to investors after MicroStrategy said July 7 that its total holdings stood at 597,325 tokens, unchanged from June 30. The company is a leveraged bet on Bitcoin, so an extended pause in purchases could have implications for Strategy stock and its backers.

Strategy is the world's largest corporate holder of Bitcoin. The last time before that in which it went a week without buying Bitcoin was the first week of April when President Donald Trump announced global tariffs, sending markets sharply down.

Crypto trading platforms Coinbase and Robinhood rose 1.8% and 2.5%, respectively, early Monday. Futures tracking the S&P 500 index were down 0.3%.

Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency, was trading at a record high of more than $121,000.

Like cryptocurrencies, crypto-linked stocks are benefiting from recent macroeconomic tailwinds, such as expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will cut interest rates later this year.

U.S. lawmakers are also ramping up efforts to provide structure to the crypto industry this week.

The White House announced earlier this month that the week of July 14 would be "Crypto Week" and reiterated intentions to make the U.S. the cryptocurrency capital of the world. Politicians will consider three key pieces of legislation in the coming days: The CLARITY Act, the GENIUS Act and the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act.

However, there remain questions about how sustainable the current rally is. Both crypto prices and the shares of companies affected by them tend to be volatile.

It is also possible that Tuesday's June inflation report will be hotter than expected, which may hamper the crypto rally by lowering expectations for a rate cut.

Write to Elsa Ohlen at elsa.ohlen@barrons.com

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