Bitcoin clings to two-week high, crypto stocks continue to tick upward

Crypto prices are holding steady at their highest since the FTX fiasco in early November, in line with broader financial markets.

Bitcoin rose 1.8% since yesterday, trading at $17,132 at 8:45 a.m. EST, according to CoinGecko. Ether rose by 1.5% to trade at $1,285.

Most of the gains followed Fed chair Jerome Powell’s Wednesday afternoon speech at the Brookings Institution in which he reiterated the pace of interest rate increase might begin to slow this month. 

Several altcoins experienced similar rallies following the speech, while others lagged. Polygon’s MATIC jumped 6%, Cardano’s ADA tacked on 1.4%, while Binance’s BNB rose 1.2%.

Dogecoin and Ripple’s XRP fell, shedding 0.6% and 0.9%, respectively.

Crypto stocks and products 

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures rose, up 0.43% and 0.55%, respectively. Both indices jumped following the Fed chair’s speech on Wednesday.

Coinbase shares rose 0.6% pre-market, trading above $46 according to Nasdaq data. Shares in the crypto exchange hit an all-time low last month but were buoyed by the market’s positive reaction to the Fed’s latest murmurings. 

Silvergate and Block traded higher in pre-market, gaining 1% and 0.3%, respectively. 

Grayscale’s structured products had mixed fortunes over the past day. GBTC’s discount to NAV lifted slightly, from 42.37% to 42.1%. ETHE fell to a new all-time low discount of 45.24% — 0.02% lower than yesterday. 

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