MW Circle leads crypto stocks higher as stablecoin deal puts critical bill back in play
By Barbara Kollmeyer and Frances Yue
Progress on the long-stalled Clarity Act is helping to put some spring back in crypto's step
Bitcoin had a surprise rally on Monday.
Stablecoin company Circle led gains in crypto stocks on Monday as investors cheered progress on a long-stalled crypto bill.
Bitcoin (BTCUSD) briefly pushed above $80,000 for the first time since January, helping to lift shares of crypto-linked companies, even as the broader equity market fell.
Stablecoins are a type of cryptocurrency with value tied to another asset. They are often pegged one-to-one to the U.S. dollar. Circle issues USDC (USDCUSD), one of the world's largest dollar-pegged stablecoins.
Circle's shares (CRCL) jumped 19.9% on Monday to close at $119.53, its highest level since March 23, and crypto exchange Coinbase's shares (COIN) rose 6%, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Robinhood Markets (HOOD) and Strategy (MSTR), the company formerly known as MicroStrategy, also gained, rising 3.9% and 3.7%, respectively.
While the crypto space climbed, major U.S. stock indexes were under pressure Monday as investors reacted to fresh Middle East tensions and higher oil prices, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA down 1.1%. It may suggest the rally in crypto-linked shares was being driven less by a broad appetite for risk and more by crypto-specific reasons, one analyst said.
The biggest of those catalysts came from Washington. Last Friday, lawmakers appeared to remove one of the main sticking points that had held up the Senate's version of the Clarity Act, a market-structure bill intended to spell out which federal agencies oversee different parts of the crypto market. The breakthrough centered on how crypto companies can reward customers who hold stablecoins, a contentious issue that had delayed the bill for months.
Under the compromise, led by Sens. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, and Angela Alsobrooks, a Maryland Democrat, crypto companies would not be allowed to pay customers interest merely for keeping stablecoins on their platforms. They could, however, still offer certain types of incentives connected to customer activity, with regulators left to draw the boundaries.
That carve-out is important because the debate has become a proxy fight between traditional banks and the crypto industry. Banks have argued that interest-like stablecoin products could siphon deposits out of the banking system, while crypto companies such as Coinbase and Circle have leaned on stablecoin adoption and related rewards as a key part of their growth story.
A representative at Circle declined to comment. Representatives at Coinbase did not respond to an email seeking comment for this article by publication time.
The deal gave investors another reason to bet that the bill could advance to a vote in the Senate Banking Committee, according to Alexander Blume, co-founder and chief executive at Two Prime. If the Clarity Act becomes law, it would be "broadly a win" for Circle and other stablecoin issuers in the U.S., Blume told MarketWatch.
The path forward remains uncertain, however. Congress has a packed calendar, and crypto legislation continues to face political resistance. "We see the deal as marginally helpful to the bill's chances of becoming law, which we still have at around 40%," Ian Katz, managing partner at Capital Alpha, wrote in a Monday note.
Bitcoin's rise
Crypto stocks also got a lift from bitcoin's latest move, as the cryptocurrency briefly pushed past the psychologically important $80,000 level on Monday for the first time since January. The crypto still traded 36.4% below its record high at $126,272.76 set on Oct. 6, 2025.
Matt Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak and Co., said bitcoin needs to break above $80,000 in a "meaningful way," and then sustain that breakout, for the move to qualify as a bullish signal for the cryptocurrency. That could matter even if investors have cooled on the asset class, because a confirmed breakout can draw in momentum-driven trading strategies.
"Once a breakout is registered in those momentum-based algos, it should cause them to send a lot of money in the direction of that asset class," Maley told clients. While the wait for that breakout remains, "the potential is certainly out there right now."
Victor Reklaitis contributed.
-Barbara Kollmeyer -Frances Yue
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 04, 2026 17:26 ET (21:26 GMT)
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