With bitcoin holding above $80,000 and stocks hitting new all-time highs, risk appetite spread deeper into cryptocurrency markets on Friday, driving altcoin and blockchain infrastructure bets.
Solana (SOL), chain link , and rose about 5%, while Near Protocol (NEAR) and Uniswap (UNI) gained about 7%. Internet Computer Protocol’s ICP rose nearly 12%, driving large companies higher.
The move came alongside another strong session for stocks. The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 2.2% to new all-time highs, while the S&P 500 added 0.85%, also closing at a record high.
Friday’s US labor market data contributed to the constructive backdrop. The economy added 115,000 jobs in April, comfortably above expectations of 62,000, while the unemployment rate held steady at 4.3%.
Cryptocurrency-linked stocks also rallied, led by Coinbase (COIN). Shares of the cryptocurrency exchange rebounded 10% from session lows after Thursday’s earnings report showed a quarterly loss of $398 million on weaker trading activity. The company’s trading platform also suffered a several-hour outage early Friday due to an AWS outage that was later fully resolved.
Despite the weak quarter, several Wall Street analysts focused on long-term tailwinds tied to stablecoins and cryptocurrency regulation.
That narrative gained momentum after SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said Friday that the agency is weighing new rules around on-chain trading systems, cryptocurrency custody infrastructure and blockchain-based settlement avenues as finance increasingly converges with artificial intelligence and distributed ledger technology.
Atkins also reiterated his support for Congressional efforts to advance legislation on crypto market structure, comments that investors viewed as support for tokenization and blockchain-based financial infrastructure.
The issue drove gains in related stocks. Bullish (BLSH), the parent company of CoinDesk, which this week announced a deeper push into tokenization, rose 6%. Digital asset infrastructure company BitGo (BTGO) rose 10%, while Cantor Equity Partners II (CEPT), which plans to merge with BlackRock-backed tokenization company Securitize, gained 4.3%.
