Ethereum pops above $4,000 to make new 2025 high as Ripple, Chainlink lead altcoin rally

Ethereum (ETH-USD) surged north of $4,000 on Friday, setting a new high price for the year, to pick up from a broader altcoin rally that had been led by Ripple and Chainlink earlier in the trading day.

Altcoins were rallying early Friday following news that Ripple would buy a stablecoin payments platform and Chainlink will launch a funded reserve for its own tokens.

Ethereum (ETH-USD) and Solana (SOL-USD) were up as much as 5% and 3%, respectively, as the stock market closed at 4:00 p.m. ET on Friday. Ripple’s XRP (XRP-USD) was up as much as 8% on Friday. Chainlink’s LINK (LINK-USD) rose as much as 11%.

Ripple (RIPL.PVT), the company behind XRP, the third-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, announced Thursday that it would acquire Rail, a stablecoin-based global payments solution that Ripple said will help the company build out its own stablecoin payments platform.

The deal, valued at $200 million and expected to close in Q4 of this year, will “offer comprehensive stablecoin pay-ins and pay-outs across key corridors, including USD payments, without requiring customers to hold crypto on their balance sheets,” according to the press release announcing the deal.

Stablecoin issuer Circle (CRCL) went public earlier this year in one of the stock market’s most successful IPOs; the company now has a market cap of $37 billion. Circle’s USDC (USDC-USD) is the seventh-largest cryptocurrency by market cap and the second-largest stablecoin behind Tether’s USDT (USDT-USD).

On Thursday, Chainlink, the company behind LINK — currently the 14th-largest cryptocurrency on the market, according to data from CoinMarketCap — announced the launch of its Chainlink Reserve.

The reserve will build up its store of LINK by converting revenue from institutional fees and on-chain usage fees to the coin, which will then accumulate in the reserve, according to the company’s press release.

The announcements came as President Trump readied to push through an executive order, signed Thursday afternoon, that pushes for the use of alternative investments like private equity and cryptocurrency in retirement accounts, which have typically been reserved for a more traditional mix of stock and bond funds.

“My Administration will relieve the regulatory burdens and litigation risk that impede American workers’ retirement accounts from achieving the competitive returns and asset diversification necessary to secure a dignified, comfortable retirement,” the order said.

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