Shares of companies related to cryptocurrencies rose in pre-market trading on Friday, with ether-related stocks leading after the second-largest cryptocurrency reached a six-month high.
Shares of BitMine Immersion Technologies, which owns ether worth about $1 billion, jumped by 14%. Other companies holding ether, Bit Digital and BTCS, gained 4% and 12.5%, respectively.
Ether rose to $3,675.81, the highest level since January 6, and traded up 5% to $3,601.40, outperforming Bitcoin, which fell 0.7% to $118,961 after reaching a record high of $123,153 earlier this week.
BitMine, where technology billionaire Peter Thiel is the main investor, and Tom Lee from Fundstrat serves as chairman of the board, announced on Thursday that it has accumulated 300,657 ethers in just three weeks. The company aims to acquire approximately 5% of the total ether supply, which currently stands at 120.71 million.
Several other companies have recently added ether to their balance sheets, following the Strategy approach with Bitcoin. Strategy has been accumulating its Bitcoin reserves at prices significantly below current market values.
SharpLink, which has funded its ether treasury through stock sales over the past seven weeks, announced an increase in its current stock sale plan from $1 billion to an additional $5 billion. Its shares rose by 5.6% in pre-market trading.
Ether benefits from the increased use of tokens pegged to the U.S. dollar, known as stablecoins. Most stablecoins are issued and traded on the Ethereum blockchain, increasing the demand for ether to pay transaction fees.
The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed a bill to create a regulatory framework for stablecoins, marking a significant event for the digital asset industry.