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Bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) fans are excited by Vanguard Group raising its stake in Bitcoin miners. The investment manager, with over $8 trillion under management, raised its stake in Riot Platforms (NASDAQ: RIOT ) stock by 2.7 million shares and its stake in Marathon Digital (NASDAQ: MARA ) stock by 6.6 million shares . Vanguard now owns about $300 million of stock in each company, roughly a 10% stake . Both Bitcoin mining stocks have been on a tear lately, each up about 440% in 2023. Riot opened at $18.09/share, Marathon at $18/share. Both MARA stock and RIOT stock are up about 3% today. Bitcoin was trading this morning at $31,000, with a market capitalization of $600 billion . MARA Stock, RIOT Stock and Bitcoin’s Legitimacy Bitcoin bulls see the new Vanguard investments as another step in legitimizing cryptocurrency . It follows moves by Blackrock (NYSE: BLK ) to create a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) . Vanguard’s official position on Bitcoin in 2021, during the last tech bull market, was that the long-term investment case for it was weak . It is now Marathon’s largest shareholder. In 2022, a tough year for Vanguard and the markets , Chief Investment Officer Greg Davis said the advisor saw merit in the technology but would steer clients toward “time-tested” products . Institutional investors like Vanguard, Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS ) and Blackrock own about half the stock in Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN ), the cryptocurrency exchange. Advocates see Bitcoin as an alternative to the U.S. dollar and other currencies. But its price has fluctuated alongside the market for tech stocks . Bitcoin traded for nearly $69,000 during the 2021 bull market and for $18,000 at the end of the recent bear market. Standard Chartered, a British bank, recently predicted Bitcoin prices will rise to $120,000 next year. Recently Bitcoin was trading for about $30,000 . What Happens Next Vanguard’s investments in the Bitcoin miners loom large to the industry but represent a minuscule portion of the fund manager’s assets. It is symbolic, however, and could keep the year’s bull run in crypto prices rolling. As of this writing, Dana Blankenhorn held a LONG position in VTI, the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines .
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