Crypto markets add to overnight gains in US morning trading Friday, with bitcoin climbing above $68,000, up almost 17% since hitting $60,000 last night.
Bitcoin is now up 2.5% in the last 24 hours. Ether is up 2.2% and solana 2%. XRP is outperforming which climbed to $1.50, now up 17% over the past day.
Crypto-related stocks are seeing significant upward moves on Friday after plunging in the previous session.
Strategy (MSTR) – which reported a fourth-quarter loss of $14.2 billion on Thursday – is up 14%, although at $122, still down 22% year to date. Galaxy Digital (GLXY) is up 15% and bitcoin miner MARA Holdings (MARA) is up 12%.
On Friday, IREN (IREN), a Bitcoin miner turned AI infrastructure provider, underperformed, falling 1.8% after disappointing results Thursday evening.
Saylor takes Quantum seriously
Those looking for substantive signals are looking to last night’s strategy earnings call, during which Michael Saylor pledged to lead a Bitcoin security program that will tackle the quantum threat.
Some crypto players have argued that bitcoin’s security model faces a serious threat from quantum computing — one so imminent that many investors are selling or refusing to invest in bitcoin.
“Saylor’s announcement tells me that prices have finally caused the Bitcoin community to recognize and address quantum risk,” Quinn Thompson wrote.
Ready for a technical rebound
Paul Howard, director of crypto trading firm Wincent, noted that bitcoin has now returned to price levels last seen 14 months ago, with key momentum indicator RSI displaying deep oversold conditions. He added that trading volumes on BTC and ETH reached their highest level in over two years. This technical configuration which often invites at least one rebound in the short term.
“It would be strange if we didn’t see at least some return here in the short term,” he said.
Update (2:55 p.m. UTC): Adds that the price of bitocin exceeds $70,000.
