Why Traders Could Be Viewing One Horizon Group As Another Crypto Play

One of the hottest investments of the year is also one of the most difficult for investors to get their hands on. Bitcoin still doesn’t have a major market ETF listing in the U.S., leaving cryptocurrency traders to seek out exposure to the space any way they can.

The Newest Crypto Play?

This heightened level of exuberance for cryptocurrency plays has lead to some extreme volatility among stocks with limited or even speculative links to cryptocurrency. On Tuesday, shares of One Horizon Group Inc OHGI jumped more than 23 percent seemingly on speculation and rumors that the company may be pursuing cryptocurrency technology.

In a press release, CEO Mark White described, among other things, “my conviction that we must succeed derives from the responsibility I personally embrace to lead our Company’s strategy to identify, acquire and integrate businesses that will allow us to lead the next wave of cutting edge technologies driving the growth of disruptive social media, on-demand video, gaming, education, security and electronic commerce mobile applications.”

Traders Connecting The Dots

Traders may be interpreting “electronic commerce” to mean that One Horizon -- a company with a $16 million market cap -- is looking to embrace cryptocurrency technology. It didn’t take long for the rumors to start flying, as traders spread word of an unconfirmed bitcoin-related deal in China.

Benzinga reached out to One Horizon for comment on the rumored deal, but a representative was not immediately available.

Traders, however, don’t seem to be waiting around for confirmation or details of a potential deal. They don’t even seem to need to hear the words “cryptocurrency” or “bitcoin” from the company itself to start scooping up shares of stock.

Price Action

One Horizon is just one of several relatively small-cap stocks to go on huge runs in recent weeks thanks to at least tangential ties to cryptocurrency. Here’s a look as some huge moves some crypto-related stocks have made in the past month alone:

• Marathon Patent Group Inc MARA is up 204.8 percent.
• Xunlei Ltd XNET is up 121.9 percent.
• Bitcoin Investment Trust GBTC is up 121.9 percent.
• Riot Blockchain Inc RIOT is up 109.0 percent.

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