Live updates: Bitcoin rises to $64,000 as SK Hynix opens for trade after $26.5 billion IPO

Circle's (CRCL) newly approved national trust bank charter could create new long-term revenue opportunities beyond its core stablecoin business, Oppenheimer analyst Owen Lau said in a research note on Friday.

He said the charter immediately allows Circle to provide federally regulated digital asset custody for itself and its affiliates. Over time, it could also enable the company to offer custody services directly to banks and institutional clients and eventually manage reserves backing its USDC stablecoin.

While Lau cautioned that the near-term financial impact is likely to be limited, he called the approval another milestone for both Circle and the digital asset industry, noting it expands access to services traditionally offered by banks and could support new revenue streams over time.

The U.S. ADRs of South Korean memory chip maker SK Hynik (SKHY) opened at $170 late Friday morning, or up 14% from last night's IPO price of $149.

The Nasdaq is lower by 0.3%, while bitcoin has slipped from earlier highs, now trading at $63,900.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran has asked us to continue 'talks,'" posted President Trump minutes ago on Truth Social. "We have agreed to do so, but the United States has stated to them, in no uncertain terms, that the Cease Fire is OVER!"

Markets aren't really responding, with U.S. stock indices and oil remaining little changed on the session. Bitcoin continues trading just above the $64,000 level.

SK Hynix's (00060) U.S. listed ADRs have so far made a strong debut, with shares indicated to open at $181, about 22% above the $149 offering price, reflecting robust investor demand following the oversubscribed $26.5 billion listing, according to multiple sources. The rally highlights continued enthusiasm for AI linked semiconductor names, with investors willing to pay a premium for direct US exposure to the world's leading high bandwidth memory supplier.

Bitcoin has erased losses suffered earlier this week on the apparent resumption of hostilities in the Middle East. In Friday morning, U.S. trading, BTC has climbed to $64,500, up 3% over the past 24 hours.

Crypto-related stocks are higher across the board, led by Circle Financial's (CRCL) 15% jump as that company secured regulatory approval to establish a national trust bank.

Strategy (MSTR) is higher by 6.5%, re-taking the $100 level. Its preferred stock, STRC, is up 1.1% to $86.63.

Coinbase (COIN) and Galaxy Digital (GLXY) are up more than 5%, and Bullish (BLSH) is ahead 2%.

SK Hynix (00060) scaled back allocations to several cornerstone investors in its $26.5 billion U.S. ADR offering after demand far exceeded expectations, according to Bloomberg. The South Korean company, one of the world's largest memory chipmakers and the leading supplier of high bandwidth memory (HBM) chips used in Nvidia's AI processors, is a major beneficiary of the ongoing AI infrastructure boom. The ADRs begin trading on Nasdaq today, giving US investors easier access to the stock. Baillie Gifford, Coatue Management and Situational Awareness Partners received about $5 billion of ADRs, around $2 billion less than requested, as the deal was about seven times oversubscribed. ADRs, or American Depositary Receipts, allow US investors to trade shares of foreign companies on US exchanges.

Chipmakers and AI stocks have absorbed nearly all of the risk appetite. Nvidia's $1 trillion did not leave the trade, it moved into memory, where Samsung and SK Hynix are up triple digits this year and SK Hynix drew seven times the demand for a $27 billion U.S. listing.

Several analysts have named the rotation as a direct drag on bitcoin, as reported. U.S. hyperscalers are on track to spend about $725 billion on AI infrastructure this year, and roughly three quarters of that flows into chips, servers and data centers.

The flows follow. Spot bitcoin ETFs lost $4.5 billion in June, among their worst month since launch

Bitcoin versus gold is now trading at 15.67, according to the Bitcoin-to-gold ratio, which compares the dollar price of one bitcoin with the dollar price of one ounce of gold. In simple terms, one bitcoin is currently worth 15.67 ounces of gold. The ratio is a useful gauge of which store of value investors prefer at any given time. Since the ratio bottomed in February, bitcoin has gained 28% against gold, underscoring its recent outperformance. The next key level is 16, where the 200 day simple moving average sits. A sustained break above that level would be a bullish technical signal, reinforcing bitcoin's relative strength versus gold.

Bitcoin has broken above $64,000, rising more than 1% over the past 24 hours. The move has coincided with a sharp narrowing in the Coinbase Premium discount, which has improved from around negative 150 at the start of July to roughly negative 40. The Coinbase Premium measures the price difference between bitcoin on Coinbase and Binance. A negative reading indicates bitcoin is trading at a discount on Coinbase, often suggesting relatively weaker US spot demand. As that discount has narrowed, bitcoin has rallied from around $58,000 to above $64,000.

U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs lost a net $95 million on Thursday, per SoSoValue data, while ether ETFs shed about $52 million, ending a five-day inflow run that had been the steadier side of the market.

Fidelity's FBTC drove the bitcoin outflow with roughly $63 million, followed by ARKB at about $40 million. BlackRock's IBIT was flat, neither adding nor losing money, and VanEck's HODL and Morgan Stanley's MSBT were the only funds in the green. Total bitcoin ETF assets sit near $77 billion.

Ether's reversal was broader. Fidelity's FETH lost about $34 million and BlackRock's ETHA roughly $13 million, with Bitwise and BlackRock's second fund also negative. No ether fund posted an inflow, and net assets held at about $9 billion.

The flows are lagging the tape. Bitcoin rose 3.5% on Friday to nearly $64,000 and is up 4.2% on the week, recovering everything it lost when Trump warned that strikes on Iran could intensify.

Ether added 2.6% to $1,760. The rally came out of Asia, where South Korea's Kospi jumped 4% on renewed AI-demand optimism and SK Hynix priced $26.5 billion of American depositary shares.

Institutional money has now sat out most of a month in which bitcoin has traded between roughly $59,000 and $66,000 without breaking either way.

Source: CoinDesk