Crypto rises with Asian tech stocks, zcash extends gain after setting upgrade date

Bitcoin BTC$83,354.72 reached its highest level in a week on Wednesday, trading around $83,500 and adding 0.6% since midnight UTC, as an earnings-led rebound in Asian technology stocks lifted risk assets.

SpaceX SPCX and Super Micro Computer (SMCI) set the tone with strong results on Tuesday in the U.S. South Korea’s Kospi advanced 3.29% and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.44%. Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla TSLA, said the two companies have formed special committees to discuss a merger, which would combine more than 30,000 bitcoin ($2.5 billion) held on their balance sheets.

Altcoins moved with bitcoin, with ether ETH$2,467.15 gaining 0.6% to near $2,460 and the CoinDesk 80 (CD80) rising 0.47%, against 0.64% for the CoinDesk 5 (CD5). The CoinDesk Memecoin Index rose 1.2%, ahead of the CoinDesk 100’s 0.84%.

Solana’s Alpenglow upgrade, which targets finality of about 150 milliseconds, goes live today, while Meta Platforms META reports after the U.S. close.