Bitcoin is trading at new all-time highs but there’s likely even more upside to come, according to Rosenblatt Securities. The flagship cryptocurrency scored a new record overnight , climbing above $111,000, after rising above its January high on Wednesday. The biggest catalyst for the move higher has been easing trade tensions between the U.S. and China and the Moody’s downgrade of U.S. sovereign debt, which has highlighted alternative stores of value — including bitcoin. Instead of a fast rally to a new all-time high, as long-time bitcoin observers are used to, it’s been a steady climb in recent weeks, supported by growing institutional ownership of the digital asset and increased adoption by corporations. BTC.CM= 1M mountain Bitcoin has been climbing toward new records throughout May “While chasing new highs in bitcoin has often been a bad idea in the past, we believe the current environment appears fundamentally different,” Rosenblatt analyst Chris Brendler said in a note to investors Thursday. “The Trump embrace has sparked a sea change in attitudes toward cryptocurrencies and led to rising interest from global pools of capital that are starting to seriously consider investing in bitcoin. With institutional ownership still quite modest and sovereign/corporate interest just getting started, we see rising global demand that should help sustain the momentum.” “Combined with material catalysts still ahead (state/federal strategic reserves, market structure legislation) and a firmly fixed supply, we see additional upside potential,” he added. Mining stocks may benefit the most should bitcoin continue to rise, Brendler said, as a higher price drives a rebound in hashprice – the amount of daily revenue a miner can expect to earn per unit of hashrate – though he did not share specific names. Rosenblatt has a buy rating on Mara Holdings , a “pure play” miner whose business is primarily in mining bitcoin, as well as the hybrid miner Terawulf . Crypto exchange Coinbase is also a likely beneficiary, though to a lesser extent “given less crypto balance sheet exposure and continued lackluster retail trading volumes.” Brendler has a buy rating and a $300 price target on the stock. Bitcoin is now up more than 18% this year. Bitcoin exchange-traded funds have seen strong inflows of new investment dollars, and only two days of outflows so far in May, according to SoSoValue. Since the beginning of the year, the number of bitcoin held by public companies has grown 31% to about $349 billion, according to Bitcoin Treasuries. That accounts for 15% of total bitcoin supply. —CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed reporting.
