Bitcoin, Ether, other major tokens rise despite warmer than expected CPI reading

Bitcoin rose in early Asian trade on Wednesday to move back above $22,000 as investors shrugged off an apparent U.S. regulatory crackdown on digital assets and data showing U.S. inflation for January was above forecasts. The world’s leading cryptocurrency led other tokens higher, with Ether and all other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies gaining ground. Cardano had the biggest increase. However, most tokens remain underwater compared to their prices seven days ago.

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Fast facts

• Bitcoin rose 1.9% in the past 24 hours to $22,220 at 8 a.m. in Hong Kong, but is down 4.4% in the past seven days, according to CoinMarketCap. Ether jumped 3.3% to $1,556. The token is down 6.9% for the week.

• Cardano gained 7.5% to trade at $0.38, but not enough to offset its 3.2% drop over the past seven days. Cardano’s gain comes amid its success deploying the Valentine upgradewhich is intended to make it easier for developers to build cross-chain applications on the Cardano blockchain.

• Polygon rose 6.1% to change hands at $1.26, but declined 0.8% for the past seven days. Solana jumped 5.1% to $21.84, but is down 8.5% from Wednesday last week.

• Crypto market capitalization rose 3.1% to $1.03 trillion, with total trading volume up 1.64% to $58.83 billion. Markets have been shaken over the past week after regulators in the US took aim at crypto betting services and certain stablecoins.

• US stocks had a mixed trading day on Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.5% and the S&P 500 was little changed at 0.1% lower, but the Nasdaq Composite Index ended the day 0.6% higher.

• Tuesday’s consumer price index (CPI) report showed prices rose 0.5% in January from the previous month or slightly higher than the 0.4% forecast by economists. The year-over-year increase came in at 6.4%, according to the US Department of Labor. Although this was also higher than the forecast of 6.2%, it shows that inflation in recent months is still on a downward trend in the world’s largest economy.

• Year-on-year CPI in December came in at 6.5% from 7.1% recorded in November, which again fell from October’s 7.7% and September’s 8.2%.

• The Fed, which has said it wants inflation back in the 2% range, has raised interest rates several times since last March to reverse the rise in inflation.

• Analysts at CME Group predict a more than 90% chance the Fed will raise interest rates by another 25 basis points at its meeting next month. US interest rates are currently at 4.5% to 4.75%, the highest in 15 years, and Fed officials have repeatedly indicated they may raise rates to as high as 5% to bring inflation back into the central bank’s target range.

• (Correcting to show Ether rose 3.3%, not USD 3.3 in first point.)

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