Stocks tied to ether rally as price climbs past $3,600

Shares of companies linked to ether rose in premarket trading Friday after the cryptocurrency hit a six-month high.

Ether climbed to $3,675.81, its highest level since January 6, before settling at $3,601.40, up 5%. It outperformed bitcoin, which eased 0.7% to $118,961 after reaching a record high of $123,153 earlier this week.

BitMine Immersion Technologies jumped 14%. The company holds about $1 billion worth of ether and recently announced it had accumulated 300,657 ether in three weeks.

BitMine plans to acquire about 5% of the total ether supply, which currently stands at 120.71 million. Tech investor Peter Thiel is the company's top shareholder, and Fundstrat's Tom Lee is the chairman.

Bit Digital added 4%, while BTCS rose 12.5%. Other firms also reported updates to their ether positions.

SharpLink, which has been funding its ether purchases through stock sales, said it raised its current $1 billion share sale target by another $5 billion. Its shares rose 5.6%.

Ether has seen rising demand due to stablecoins, most of which are issued on the Ethereum blockchain. Stablecoin transactions require ether to pay fees, driving interest from institutions. Circle Internet gained 2.7%, while Coinbase Global rose 2%.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill Thursday to establish a regulatory framework for stablecoins, which could support further adoption of Ethereum. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF has gained 10% this month, while the ether ETF has increased nearly 36%.