Ethereum (ETH-USD) smashed through the $4,000 mark on Friday, reaching its highest price this year, riding the wave of a red-hot altcoin rally sparked by major moves from Ripple and Chainlink.

The crypto market was buzzing early Friday after Ripple announced plans to snap up a stablecoin payments platform and Chainlink revealed a new funded reserve for its tokens, setting the stage for a broader altcoin surge.

By the time the stock market closed at 4:00 p.m. ET on Friday, Ethereum (ETH-USD) had climbed as much as 5%, while Solana (SOL-USD) gained up to 3%. Ripple’s XRP (XRP-USD) stole the show with an 8% jump, and Chainlink’s LINK (LINK-USD) skyrocketed by as much as 11%.

Ripple, the force behind XRP—the third-largest cryptocurrency by market cap—shared on Thursday that it’s acquiring Rail, a stablecoin-powered global payments platform. The $200 million deal, set to close in the fourth quarter of 2025, will help Ripple build a robust stablecoin payments system. According to the press release, the platform will enable “comprehensive stablecoin pay-ins and pay-outs across key corridors, including USD payments, without requiring customers to hold crypto on their balance sheets.”

Meanwhile, stablecoin giant Circle (CRCL), which went public earlier this year in a blockbuster IPO, now boasts a $37 billion market cap. Its USDC (USDC-USD) ranks as the seventh-largest cryptocurrency and the second-biggest stablecoin, trailing only Tether’s USDT (USDT-USD).

On the same day, Chainlink, the company behind LINK—the 14th-largest cryptocurrency, per CoinMarketCap—unveiled its Chainlink Reserve. This initiative will bolster its LINK holdings by converting revenue from institutional fees and on-chain usage fees into the token, which will then pile up in the reserve, according to the company’s announcement.

These developments coincided with a bold move from President Trump, who signed an executive order on Thursday afternoon to encourage alternative investments like private equity and cryptocurrencies in retirement accounts. The order aims to ease “regulatory burdens and litigation risk” that have long limited retirement accounts to traditional stocks and bonds, promising better returns and diversification for American workers.