Is Bitcoin Trading Like a Tech Stock?
Bitcoin (BTC) was once positioned as digital gold – a hedge against financial instability and market volatility. But recent price action tells a different story.
As institutional involvement has grown, particularly in exchange-traded funds and other traditional vehicles, Bitcoin has increasingly traded with risk assets. The recent decline in software stocks, fueled by renewed uncertainty around the impact of AI on the sector, has been reflected in crypto markets, raising new questions about Bitcoin's growing identity.
That dynamic sets the tone for this week's Crypto Biz. A new study from Grayscale examines the relationship between Bitcoin's growth and growth equity, as one Ether (ETH) treasury company is doubling despite a multi-billion dollar paper loss. Elsewhere, BlackRock is expanding its token push with the Uniswap merger, and Polymarket is taking its fight over state regulation to federal court.
Grayscale: Bitcoin is trading as a growth asset, not as digital gold.
New research from Grayscale shows that Bitcoin's store-of-value narrative has recently taken a back seat, with the digital asset behaving more like a growth stock.
In the report, author Zach Pandle said that while grayscale continues to view bitcoin as a long-term store of value due to its fixed supply and independence from central banks, its short-term trading pattern resembles that of high-growth stocks.
The analysis found a strong correlation between Bitcoin and software stocks over the past two years. That connection has become clearer as software companies face new sales pressure amid concerns that artificial intelligence could disrupt parts of the industry.
Against that backdrop, Bitcoin's recent comeback doesn't seem too surprising, given that its price has closely tracked the movements of the software sector.
During the market sale, BitMine adds 40,613 ETH
Ether treasury company BitMine Immersion Technologies added 40,613 ETH to its holdings during the recent market sell-off, strengthening its long-term bet on Ether even as prices plummet and paper losses reach billions of dollars.
The purchase boosted BitMine's total Ether reserves to over 4.326 million ETH, which is worth $8.8 billion at current levels. According to DropsTab, the company is now sitting on an unexpected loss of $8.1 billion in ETH space, which shows the huge difference between the price base and today's market price.
Despite the criticism and pressure from investors who have fallen sharply in recent months, BitMine Chairman Tom Lee said the company's strategy is designed to track Ether's long-term trajectory and take advantage of future recoveries. The company's extensive crypto and currency portfolio is valued at around $10 billion.
Blackrock buys UNI, brings BUIDL to Uniswap
BlackRock is stepping up its push into decentralized finance by listing a money market fund on Uniswap, a key step in institutional defi adoption.
The asset manager USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) is available on a decentralized exchange, giving authorized institutional investors the ability to trade tokenized treasury products on-chain. As part of the move, BlackRock is buying Uniswap's management token, UNI.
BUIDL is the largest money market fund with over $2.1 billion in assets. The currency is issued on several blockchains, Ethereum, Solana and Avalanche. Cumulative outflows from US Treasury holdings in December exceeded $100 million.
Polymarket sued over regulation of Massachusetts state prediction markets
Decentralized prediction market Polymarket has filed a federal lawsuit against the state of Massachusetts, challenging state officials' efforts to limit or shut down its event-based trading products.
Polymarket chief legal officer Neil Kumar set the record straight on Monday, saying unresolved legal questions around jurisdiction should be resolved at the federal level, not state enforcement. The lawsuit is aimed at blocking any action by Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell that Polymarket says would illegally interfere with federally regulated markets.
The company argues that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), not individual states, has exclusive jurisdiction over event contracts offered on its platform and that government action risks fragmenting national markets.
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