As Bitcoin (BTC-USD) soars above $52,000 on Thursday, Coinbase (COIN) stock is soaring after JPMorgan analysts upgraded the cryptocurrency exchange's stock to neutral. Yahoo Finance Live examines crypto trading patterns as a result of January's Spot Bitcoin ETF listing.
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Editor's note: This article was written by luke carberry morgan.
video transcript
Brad Smith: Coinbase stock soared after JPMorgan upgraded the stock to neutral. The move reflects a surge in the price of Bitcoin and broader cryptocurrencies. At this point, Bitcoin regained its market capitalization of $1 trillion, and the Bitcoin price reached $52,000.
The total market capitalization of the cryptocurrency market here should be $2 trillion. I'll check again soon, but at least that's what I saw this morning. But we keep talking at length about how the Bitcoin halving event could have bigger implications, as we consider what the catalyst might be for not just Coinbase, but Bitcoin as a whole.
But also what the filing of an Ethereum ETF could mean for more attention and investment potential for the cryptocurrency market cap as a whole. We also saw this week how that translates into Robinhood's earnings. So this is probably one of the other major catalysts to look at here.
Rachel Akuffo: I thought it was interesting to hear SEC Chairman Gary Gensler trying to temper expectations about ETF spot futures working in the same way as spot Bitcoin ETFs. Regarding Bitcoin, it can be said that it is truly a one-off situation. He didn't seem too convinced about the Spot Ethereum ETF.
It's a whole different beast. As mentioned earlier, it is both a coin, a token, and the blockchain on which it runs. Therefore, it has a much more nuanced meaning than just focusing on it as a token. And we continue to see Gensler focus on that as the exception rather than necessarily the rule. So there are things to keep in mind when comparing the potential of Bitcoin and Ethereum.
Brad Smith: And the context within the Coinbase call that JPMorgan made here and the bottom line is that, in their opinion, this Bitcoin rally will contribute to a better spot in Bitcoin ETF flows, which in turn will drive Bitcoin higher. He said that he believes he is contributing to boosting the demand. The price will rise and so will other tokens. It's relevant to the cryptocurrency situation here. And again, they also mentioned some of the meaningful Bitcoin price increases that actually point to a US Bitcoin Spot ETF.
However, they pointed out that while the pitch was initially made at a news event, it was also done within this event and on this conference call. So ultimately we'll see exactly how the Street continues to react to this upgrade of JPMorgan from Underweight to Neutral. Coinbase’s new target price is $80.
