Crypto stocks jump as ether scales six-month high

By Medha Singh

July 18 (Reuters) - Crypto-focused stocks rose on Friday, after ether hit a six-month high on the passage of a stablecoin bill by the U.S. House of Representatives.

The bill, expected to be signed into law by President Donald Trump, marks a watershed for the digital asset industry, which has long pushed lawmakers to create rules for digital assets, arguing that a clear framework could drive a wider usage of stablecoins and other crypto tokens.

Ether benefits from an increased usage of U.S. dollar-pegged tokens known as stablecoins. Most stablecoins are issued and transacted on the underlying Ethereum blockchain, driving up demand for ether to pay for transaction fees.

Shares of BitMine BMNR.A, where tech billionaire Peter Thiel is the top investor and whose chairman is Fundstrat's Tom Lee, soared 12.7%. Other ether holding firms Bit Digital BTBT.O and BTCS BTCS.O added 6.5% and 22.9%, respectively. SharpLink shares dipped 0.6%.

The $3.5 billion SharpLink Gaming SBET.O, which has funded its ether treasury through stock sales in recent weeks, said on Thursday that it had added $5 billion to its current $1 billion share sale plan.

"The standout proposition of institutional Ethereum accumulation seems to be stablecoin growth which has been further accelerated by the recent success of Circle IPO," said Matthew Dibb, CIO at Astronaut Capital, a Singapore-based crypto asset manager.

"Ethereum is by far the biggest beneficiary of stablecoin usage."

Stablecoin issuer Circle Internet CRCL.N added 6%, while crypto exchange Coinbase Global COIN.O gained 7.6% and hit an all-time high for the first since its IPO in 2021.

ETHER TREASURY STRATEGY

Ether ETH= climbed to $3,675.81, its highest since January 6, and was last up 6.6% at $3,643.09, outperforming bitcoin BTC=, which eased 0.5% to $118,870 after hitting a record high of $123,153 this week.

Ether has also got a boost from a number of companies adding the digital asset to their balance sheets recently, following the example of Strategy MSTR.O. Shares of the largest corporate holder of bitcoin have skyrocketed more than 3,000% since 2000 as its underlying asset has ballooned in value.

"Time will tell whether these treasury companies outperform the core ETH ETF, but given the success of (Strategy) in recent years, it won't stop them from trying," Astronaut Capital's Dibb said.

While many companies have launched copycat strategies with bitcoin, which is capped at 21 million coins and is often viewed as a digital store of value, the pivot to ether has raised some eyebrows as it does not have a cap on maximum supply.

"It is hard to comprehend why so many speculators are denying themselves that cardinal benefit by buying their crypto exposure in an equity wrapper that issues new shares regularly," said Michael O'Rourke, chief market strategist at JonesTrading.

"While the fixed supply cap is bitcoin's cardinal trait, the cardinal trait of a digital treasury company business model is perpetual dilution through share issuance."