Shares of multiple bitcoin and cryptocurrency proxy stocks—including Riot Blockchain (NASDAQ:RIOT) , Long Blockchain Corp. (NASDAQ:LBCC) , and the Bitcoin Investment Trust (OTC:GBTC) —surged on Wednesday, thanks in large part, to a major announcement related to Litecoin.
Litecoin, the fifth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap according to CoinMarketCap.com, has seen its price soar 33% over the last 24 hours. This climb helped spur a nearly industry-wide jump, including gains from the three largest cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple. Overall, the cryptocurrency market has added nearly $40 billion in total capitalization in the last day.
The crypto market boomed following the announcement of Litecoin’s first-ever “hard fork.” In the cryptocurrency world, a hard fork means a change in the rules of the blockchain infrastructure that is not recognized as valid by the older software. This hard fork, initiated by the brand-new Litecoin Cash Foundation, is similar to a stock split in the sense that it aims to reduce barriers to entry for new users (also read: Here's Why Litecoin Is Soaring Today).
With that said, let’s take a look at three cryptocurrency proxy stocks that popped today following the Litecoin Cash announcement.
Long Blockchain Corp.
Formerly known as Long Island Iced Tea Corp., Long Blockchain stock soared after it pivoted from a non-alcoholic beverage company into a firm that looks to invest or partner with companies in the blockchain technology that makes the crypto market possible. Today, Long Blockchain stock popped over 5%. But before today’s gains, shares of the rebranded New York-based firm had plummeted over 40% in the last four weeks.
Riot Blockchain
Like many other blockchain firms, Riot operated a completely different business not so long ago. Until recently, RIOT was a dying microcap biotech diagnostics equipment firm called Bioptix. Following the change, Riot saw its stock price skyrocket and now tends to trade based on crypto-related news. Shares of Riot climbed over 7.22% on the back of the Litecoin hard fork announcement.
Bitcoin Investment Trust
Shares of this bitcoin holding fund surged nearly 9% on Wednesday following the massive surge in the crypto market. However,today’s gains hardly make up for Bitcoin Investment Trust’s recent losses, and at $15.69 per share, it still sits far below its split-adjusted all-time intraday trading high of $38.71 per share.
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BITCOIN INVT TR (GBTC): ETF Research Reports
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