The price of bitcoin rose to start the week, edging even closer to its all-time high after the rally took a breather over the weekend.
The flagship cryptocurrency was last higher by 5% at $66,042.60, according to Coin Metrics. Earlier, it rose to as much as $66,332.00, its highest level since November 2021. Ether advanced 1.5% to $3,525.21.
Both coins are coming off their best week in almost a year (bitcoin gained about 21% and ether 16%) but paused their run over the weekend as the market digested two days of steep outflows from the Grayscale Bitcoin ETF that were offset by inflows into other “newborn” bitcoin ETFs.
Bitcoin is edging toward its all-time high
“With the birth of these nine new ETFs the big moves now tend to take place during the normal trading week rather than the weekends,” said Antoni Trenchev, cofounder of crypto exchange Nexo. “What we’re seeing today … might well be a rerun of early last week when bitcoin surged $10,000 in the space of a couple of days. We’re in that sort of environment when a day or two of sideways consolidation can precede explosive price action thanks to the voracious demand of these new spot ETFs.”
Investors have been extra eager to see bitcoin approach its all-time high. At $66,000 it’s sitting about 4% off its November 2021 intraday record of $68,982.20.
Some analysts have suggested that while it could keep rising in the short term, bitcoin may may cool in the next few weeks, as unrealized profit margins approach extreme levels. Bitcoin’s realized price is sitting at just about $42,700, according to CryptoQuant.
Nevertheless, long-term investors are confident that the combination of increasing demand for bitcoin through the new U.S. exchange-traded funds and a tighter supply expected after the April halving event will push the price of bitcoin to a new all-time high.
Crypto has also been getting a slight bid from the stock market, where the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite reached an all-time high on Friday, becoming the last of the major stock indexes to hit a record close this year. David Duong, head of institutional research at Coinbase, said that although March could be a month of sideways grinding for bitcoin, the cryptocurrency is benefitting from an AI- and blockchain technology-driven productivity boom he expects is here to stay.
Large-cap cryptocurrency moves Monday were more modest, although prices of smaller coins, particularly meme coins, have swelled. Dogecoin jumped 8%, while Shiba Inu coin surged 18%. Analysts point to their performance as evidence that retail investors, who have been absent for much of the recent crypto rally, are starting to return to the crypto market.
New Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan will receive total compensation of $1 million in salary and about $66 million in stock options and grants vesting over the coming years, according to filing on Friday with the SEC.
Tan was named as the chief of Intel this week, spurring hopes that the chip industry veteran can turn around the struggling company. Intel shares are up nearly 20% so far in 2025, and most of those gains came this week, following Tan’s appointment. He starts next week.
Tan will receive $1 million in salary, and he is eligible for an annual bonus worth $2 million.
He will also receive stock units in a long-term equity grant valued at $14.4 million, as well as a performance grant of $17 million in Intel shares. Both grants will vest over a period of five years, although Tan won’t earn any of those shares if Intel’s stock price drops over the next three years. He can earn more stock if the company’s share price outperforms the market.
Tan will receive a package of stock options worth $9.6 million, as well as a new hire option grant worth $25 million.
In total, Tan’s compensation package has about $66 million in long-term equity awards and options in addition to salary, bonuses, and legal expenses. If Intel goes through a change of control, Tan could be eligible for accelerated vesting, according to the filing.
“Lip-Bu’s compensation reflects his experience and credentials as an accomplished technology leader with deep industry experience and is market competitive,” Intel said in an emailed comment. “The vast majority of his compensation is equity-based and tied to long-term shareholder value creation.”
Separately, Tan agreed to purchase $25 million in Intel shares and hold them in order to be eligible for the grants and bonuses.
Daniel Harvey Gonzalez | In Pictures via Getty Images
Klarna, a provider of buy now, pay later loans filed its IPO prospectus on Friday, and plans to go public on the New York Stock Exchange under ticker symbol KLAR.
Klarna, headquartered in Sweden, hasn’t yet disclosed the number of shares to be offered or the expected price range.
The decision to go public in the U.S. deals a significant blow to European stock exchanges, which have struggled to retain homegrown tech firms. Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski had hinted for years that a U.S. listing was more likely, citing better visibility and regulatory advantages.
Klarna is continuing to rebuild after a dramatic downturn. Once a pandemic-era darling valued at $46 billion in a SoftBank-led funding round, Klarna saw its valuation slashed by 85% in 2022, plummeting to $6.7 billion in its most recent primary fundraising. However, analysts now estimate the company’s valuation in the $15 billion range, bolstered by its return to profitability in 2023.
Revenue last year increased 24% to $2.8 billion. The company’s operating loss was $121 million for the year, and adjusted operating profit was $181 million, swinging from a loss of $49 million a year earlier.
Founded in 2005, Klarna is best known for its buy now, pay later model, a service that allows consumers to split purchases into installments. The company competes with Affirm, which went public in 2021, and Afterpay, which Block acquired for $29 billion in early 2022. Klarna’s major shareholders include venture firms Sequoia Capital and Atomico, as well as SoftBank’s Vision Fund.
Docusign rose more than 14% after reporting stronger-than-expected earnings after the bell Thursday.
“We’ve really stabilized and I think started to turn the corner on the core business,” CEO Allan Thygesen said Friday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “We’ve become much more efficient.”
Here’s how the company performed in the fourth quarter FY2025 compared to LSEG estimates:
Earnings per share: 86 cents vs. 85 cents expected
Revenue: $776 million vs. $761 million
The earnings beat was boosted in part by the electronic signature service’s new artificial intelligence-enabled content called Docusign IAM, a platform for optimizing processes involving agreements.
“It’s tremendously valuable,” Thygesen said. “It’s opening a treasure trove of data. … We’re seeing excellent pickup.”
Looking to fiscal year 2026, Thygesen said Docusign expects IAM to account for low double digits of the total growth of the business by Q4.
Read more CNBC tech news
Thygesen said the company is also partnering with Microsoft and Google, which the company does not view as competitors because they’re “not looking to become agreement management specialists.”
Despite consumer sentiment and demand dipping across the board due to tariff uncertainty, Thygesen said the company has not seen anything yet in its transactional activity to indicate a slowdown in demand or growth.
“More and more people are going to want to sign things electronically,” Thygesen said.
The company reported subscription revenue at $757 million, marking a 9% year-over-year increase. Docusign said it expects first-quarter revenue between $745 million and $749 million and projects full-year revenue between $3.129 billion and $3.141 billion.
Docusign reported net income of $83.50 million, or 39 cents per share, compared to net income of $27.24 million, or 13 cents per share, a year ago. Fourth-quarter revenue of $776 million was up 9% from the year-ago quarter.
DocuSign went public in 2018 at a $6 billion valuation. The company’s share price soared during the pandemic as demand for remote services boomed during lockdowns and social restrictions, hitting record highs in 2021 before plummeting. Thygesen, who previously worked at Google, joined the company in September 2022 after DocuSign’s massive slide.