As bitcoin, ethereum and other cryptocurrencies get increasing attention from investors, Wall Street and its traditional banks continue to adjust to the shift. Catch up on this week's top stories highlighting the intersection of these old guard and new school areas of finance with this recap.

TESLA CEO HITS BITCOIN WITH BREAKUP MEME

Bitcoin fell after Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk posted a tweet Thursday night with a meme about a couple breaking up over the male quoting Linkin Park lyrics along with the hashtag #Bitcoin and a broken heart emoji. Following the tweet, the CEO added another post to the thread showing a couple videochatting with the female saying, "I miss you". Bitcoin dropped roughly 6% to $36,907.50 in pre-market trading early Friday morning.

COINBASE LAUNCHES DOGECOIN ON COINBASE PRO

Coinbase (COIN) said in a Tuesday post to its blog: "Starting Today Tuesday June 1, transfer DOGE into your Coinbase Pro account ahead of trading. Support for DOGE will generally be available in Coinbase's supported jurisdictions. Trading will begin on or after 9AM Pacific Time Thursday June 3, if liquidity conditions are met." The move came as the company also announced Tuesday Coinbase Card can be used with Apple Pay (AAPL) and Google Pay (GOOGL). "You can now use your Coinbase Card with Apple Pay and Google Pay to make it even easier to spend crypto at home and on the go," Coinbase stated in a Tuesday post to its corporate blog. "Starting this week, we'll invite select customers off the waitlist to begin earning up to 4% back in crypto rewards. If you're already on the waitlist for Coinbase Card, you'll soon receive an invitation to apply," the company added.

GOOGLE TO ALLOW U.S. ADS FOR CRYPTO WALLETS

In a support page post, Google stated in part: "In August 2021, Google will update the Financial products and services policy to clarify the scope and requirements to allow the advertisement of cryptocurrency related business and services. Beginning August 3, advertisers offering Cryptocurrency Exchanges and Wallets targeting the United States may advertise those products and services when they meet the following requirements and are certified by Google... All prior Cryptocurrency Exchange certifications will be revoked on August 3, 2021. Advertisers must request new Cryptocurrency Exchanges and Wallets certification with Google when the application form is published on July 8, 2021."

KRAKEN DEBUTS MOBILE APP

Coinbase rival Kraken will debut its mobile app functionality to the U.S. amid a fervor of retail investors' interest peaks in digital currencies, reported CNBC's MacKenzie Sigalos on Wednesday, citing the company’s Chief Product Officer Jeremy Welch. Starting this week, Kraken will enable most U.S. users to buy and sell more than 50 crypto tokens from their mobile phones. Kraken claims to offer "the lowest fees in the industry” and cites rapid verification and onboarding times as a key differentiator.

RIOT PRICE TARGET RAISES

H.C. Wainwright analyst Kevin Dede raised the firm's price target on Riot Blockchain (RIOT) on Tuesday to $40 from $30 and reiterated a Buy rating on the shares after the company announced the completion of its acquisition of Whinstone. The deal "nicely enriches operating characteristics and the prospect of a Riot investment," Dede said. The analyst added the acquisition transitions Riot toward managing its own machines with better control over profitability, secures ultimate access to 750MW at 2.5c kWh, about the lowest he's seen in crypto mining, and provides a destination for the new miners ordered. Meanwhile, B. Riley analyst Lucas Pipes raised the firm's price target on Riot to $44 from $43 following the closure of the acquisition. The analyst sees the official closure as a "major positive for the stock." Not only is Riot's growth "significantly de-risked" with the acquisition now complete, but the closure also allowed Riot to disclose a number of important guidance items to investors, including final net energy costs and estimated power capacity, Pipes said.

CRYPTO STOCK PLAYS

Cryptocurrency revenues have been pointed to as reasons to be bullish on Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Nvidia (NVDA) in select research. Overstock (OSTK), Ideanomics (IDEX), Pareteum (TEUM) and SRAX (SRAX) are other stocks that have been touted, or promoted themselves, as a way to play the crypto theme.

PRICE ACTION

As of time of writing, bitcoin increased slightly this week to $36,586 in U.S. dollars, according to TradeBlock.