By Shares of companies that have invested in bitcoin have vastly outperformed on Wall Street in 2021 and are extending their gains thanks to Teslas 1.5 billion bet on the soaring digital currency. The price of bitcoin hit a record high over 48,000 on Tuesday in a twoday surge after Tesla said on Monday that it had bought the digital currency and would soon accept it as a form of payment for cars.
A handful of bitcoinrelated companies listed on U.S. stock exchanges were also buoyed by the disclosure that Tesla CEO Elon Musk, a fan of cryptocurrencies, added bitcoin to the electric car makers balance sheet. Teslas bitcoin purchase amounts to a minor bet for the fastgrowing electric car company with an 800 billion stock market value. However, it bolstered the digital currencys emerging credentials as a mainstream financial asset.
Driven in part by interest from institutional investors, the price of bitcoin has quadrupled in the past four months, surging far beyond record highs set in 2017. Some investors view it a hedge against inflation.
MicroStrategy, whose CEO Michael Saylor is an avid bitcoin bull, surged 22 on Tuesday, bringing its gain this week to over 50, and it has surged over 200 so far in 2021. The business intelligence software company has bought about 71,079 bitcoins, now worth over 3 billion and equivalent to over a quarter of its 11.8 billion stock market value.
Canadian financial technology firm Mogo, which in December said it would invest up to 1.5 million…
