Ether and trading stocks take the crypto spotlight as Congress passes historic stablecoin bill

Ether and other crypto related stocks climbed to end the week as the GENIUS Act heads to President Donald Trump's desk to be signed into law. Bitcoin and its proxies took a breather.

The price of ether was last higher by 3.6% at $3,558.68, according to Coin Metrics, trading at highs not seen since January.

On Thursday, ETFs tracking the price of ether saw daily inflows top those of bitcoin ETFs for the first time ever. The funds logged $602 million in net inflows, led by BlackRock's iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA). Bitcoin ETFs on the same day saw inflows of $522 million. A day earlier, the ETH funds saw a single-day record inflow of $726.7 million.

Stocks tied to crypto trading gained as well. Coinbase rose 4%, hitting an all-time intraday high surpassing its initial pop on its IPO date in 2021, and pacing for its fifth positive week in a row. Robinhood also added 4%. Ether treasury stock Bitmine Immersion continued its rally, jumping 12% Friday.

Meanwhile, the price of bitcoin slipped 1%. Bitcoin treasury giant Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy, fell 4% and Mara Holdings, the mining company and bitcoin proxy, hovered under the flat line.

Ether has advanced 19% this week, bringing its two week gain to about 43.6% — its strongest two-week period since August 2021. Bitcoin is down less than 1% for the week.

On Thursday, BlackRock also filed with the SEC to include staking to its ETHA ether ETF, which also boosted sentiment for crypto's second largest coin.

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