Altcoins were rallying early Friday following news that Ripple would buy a stablecoin payments platform and Chainlink will launch a funded reserve for its own tokens.
Ripple’s XRP (XRP-USD) was up as much as 8% early Friday while Chainlink’s LINK (LINK-USD) rose as much as 11%.
Ethereum (ETH-USD) and Solana (SOL-USD) were up more than 1% and more than 2%, respectively, before the open of the equity market on Friday morning.
Ripple (RIPL.PVT), the company behind XRP, the third-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, announced Thursday that it would acquire Rail, a stablecoin-based global payments solution Ripple said will help the company to build out its own stablecoin payments platform.
The deal, valued at $200 million and expected to close in Q4 of this year, will “offer comprehensive stablecoin pay-ins and pay-outs across key corridors, including USD payments, without requiring customers to hold crypto on their balance sheets,” according to the press release announcing the deal.
Stablecoin issuer Circle (CRCL) went public earlier this year in one the stock market’s most successful IPOs; the company now has a market cap of $37 billion. Circle’s USDC (USDC-USD) is the 7th-largest cryptocurrency by market cap and the second-largest stablecoin behind Tether’s USDT (USDT-USD).
Chainlink, the company behind LINK — currently the 14th-largest cryptocurrency on the market, according to data from CoinMarketCap — on Thursday announced the launch of its Chainlink Reserve.
The reserve will build up its store of LINK by converting revenue from institutional fees and on-chain usage fees to the coin, which will then accumulate in the reserve, according to the company’s press release.
The announcements came as President Trump readied to push through an executive order, signed Thursday afternoon, that pushes for the use of alternative investments like private equity and cryptocurrency in retirement accounts, which have typically been reserved for a more traditional mix of stock and bond funds.
“My Administration will relieve the regulatory burdens and litigation risk that impede American workers’ retirement accounts from achieving the competitive returns and asset diversification necessary to secure a dignified, comfortable retirement,” the order said.
Bitcoin rallied throughout Thursday in the lead-up to the order’s signing and was trading near $116,500 early Friday.
The developments are the latest in what’s been a rapid thaw in Washington’s view towards cryptocurrency adoption and regulation.
Congress’ “Crypto Week” in July, featured widely publicized pushes by the two legislative chambers to get the Clarity, GENIUS, and Anti-CBDC Acts past their respective votes.
The GENIUS Act, signed into law by President Trump on July 18, establishes a regulatory framework for the use of stablecoins like Tether. The Clarity Act, which seeks to define regulatory oversight of cryptocurrencies, and the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act, which seeks to block the Federal Reserve from establishing central bank cryptocurrencies, have both passed in the House of Representatives and are now awaiting votes in the Senate.
Recent months have also seen widespread adoption of “Bitcoin Treasury” strategies, popularized by Michael Saylor’s Strategy (MSTR), in which a company buys Bitcoin to hold on its balance sheet.
Jake Conley is a breaking news reporter covering US equities for Yahoo Finance. Follow him on X at @byjakeconley or email him at jake.conley@yahooinc.com.
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