Blockchain firm BTCS soars on retail rush for bitcoin dividends

Jan 13 (Reuters) – Shares in blockchain technology-focused agency BTCS Inc (BTCS.O) rocketed on Thursday, set to increase a four-day rally, as extra retail buyers scooped them up after the corporate final week provided to pay dividends in bitcoin.

The Silver Spring, Maryland-based firm has seen its inventory worth greater than double since Jan. 5, when it proposed to pay $0.05 per share in bitcoin to those that go for it. Its first bitcoin dividend, or “bividend” as BTCS calls it, is due on March 16.

Shares of BTCS climbed 20% to a six-week excessive of $7.80 in early buying and selling on Thursday as the web buzz over its plan grew in boards reminiscent of Reddit and stocktwits.com, which have been instrumental within the “meme inventory” frenzy final 12 months.

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Practically 9 million BTCS shares modified arms throughout the first jiffy of buying and selling, greater than double the corporate’s public float of 4.2 million shares. A smaller variety of free float shares makes the inventory weak to sharp strikes.

“This can be a second now we have lengthy anticipated for the reason that Firm bought the area, bividend.com, in February 2015,” CEO Charles Allen mentioned in an announcement final Wednesday.

BTCS, final valued at $69 million, claims to be the primary Nasdaq-listed agency to supply dividends in bitcoin. Online game retailer GameStop (GME.N) on Friday jumped as a lot as 22% on plans to launch a division to develop a market for nonfungible tokens (NFTs). read more

In the meantime, costs of highly-volatile cryptocurrencies have tumbled since hitting all-time highs late final 12 months. Bitcoin was final buying and selling at $44,306.29 on Thursday, about 36% under its all-time peak.

Reporting by Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Modifying by Ramakrishnan M.

Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.