Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:MARA) is up more than 20% in trading today, the latest to benefit from the bullish frenzy around cryptocurrencies. The price movement in MARA stock comes after the company last week announced it would be changing its name from Marathon Patent Group as part of a wider company rebranding.
The name change took effect today. The company said in a press release on Friday, Feb. 26, that as “one of the only pure-play Bitcoin (CCC:BTC-USD) investment options available” on the market, the renaming “reflects the Company’s commitment to its core competency: mining cryptocurrencies and investing in digital assets.”
The movement in MARA comes at a time of rabid interest in cryptocurrencies, not only from retail investors but also from larger institutional players. Citi Bank analysts said today that Bitcoin was fast approaching “a tipping point” for adoption, and that the cryptocurrency could “become the currency of choice for international trade.”
Indeed, some market commentators can see Bitcoin one day reaching $1 million, given the further upside implied by such eventual widespread adoption. As one of the largest bitcoin miners in the U.S., Marathon Digital stands is poised for big gains, though that opportunity isn’t without risk.
That rising tide has also boosted crypto companies such as Canaan (NASDAQ:CAN) and SOS (NYSE:SOS) more than 40% in trading today. CAN stock is up after receiving a number of large orders for its cryptomining rigs, while SOS is fighting back allegations of falsified business announcements.
Interestingly, trading volume in MARA was down for the day, with a little more than 20.5 million shares having changed hands on the day at time of writing; that’s compared with an average daily volume of more than 40 million trades.
On the date of publication, Vivian Medithi did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article.
