Crypto markets add to overnight gains in US morning trading on Friday, with bitcoin rising above $68,000, up about 13% since hitting $60,000 late yesterday.
Even with the bounce, bitcoin is still down 2% in the last 24 hours. Ether is lower by 3% and sunny by 5%. The best performance is XRP which has risen to $1.47, 8% more than the last day.
Cryptocurrency-related stocks are seeing major bullish moves on Friday after falling in the previous session.
Strategy (MSTR), which reported a fourth-quarter loss of $14.2 billion late Thursday, is 14% higher, though at $122, still down 22% year-to-date. Galaxy Digital (GLXY) is up 15% and bitcoin miner MARA Holdings (MARA) is up 12%.
Bitcoin miner turned AI infrastructure provider IREN (IREN) underperformed on Friday, falling 1.8% after disappointing earnings results on Thursday night.
Saylor takes quantum seriously
Those looking for signs of bottom point point to last night’s strategic earnings conference call in which Michael Saylor pledged to lead a Bitcoin security program that will address the quantum threat.
Some in crypto have argued that bitcoin’s security model faces a serious threat from quantum computing, a threat so imminent that many investors are selling or refusing to allocate anything to bitcoin.
“Saylor’s announcement tells me that prices have finally gotten the Bitcoin community to recognize and address quantum risk,” Quinn Thompson wrote.
Prepared for technical rebound
Paul Howard, director of cryptocurrency trading firm Wincent, noted that bitcoin has now returned to price levels last seen 14 months ago, a technical setup that often invites at least a short-term bounce.
“It would be strange if we didn’t see at least some short-term reversal,” he said, especially with the RSI showing oversold conditions.
He added that trading volumes in BTC and ETH have reached their highest level in more than two years – more than double the levels of 2024-25.
