Crypto Miners to Benefit From Biden’s Executive Order: Jefferies

The investment bank reiterated buy ratings for Argo Blockchain and Marathon Digital following Wednesday’s action by the White House.

By Michael Bellusci

Mar 9, 2022 at 7:59 p.m. UTC

Updated Mar 9, 2022 at 8:21 p.m. UTC

(Christinne Muschi/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Michael Bellusci

Michael Bellusci is CoinDesk's crypto reporter focused on public companies and digital asset firms.

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President Joe Biden's executive order on crypto regulation appears to be broadly supportive of the digital asset industry, including crypto miners, and seeks to put the U.S. “ahead of the curve” as crypto becomes a more important part of the global economy, said Jefferies (JEF) analyst Jonathan Peterson in a note to clients.

“We believe the fact that the U.S. government is now more formally recognizing, engaging with and seemingly supporting the digital asset industry will be a positive for public crypto mining companies,” he said.
Peterson noted the contrast between the U.S. and China, which last summer banned crypto mining altogether and drove a wave of new investment in North America. “We see this [executive] order as another indicator that the regulatory environment in the U.S. is more supportive of miners and cryptocurrencies,” he added.
Peterson reiterated buy ratings on miners Argo Blockchain (ARBK) and Marathon Digital (MARA). Shares of both are higher by about 15% at the same time as a 9% advance for bitcoin (BTC). However, shares of the miners remain lower by more than 30% for the year to date, while bitcoin's price is down about 16%.
Other crypto-related companies seeing movement on their shares include Coinbase (COIN) up 9%, and Galaxy Digital (BRPHF) ahead 11%.

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