Bitcoin, Ether continue run up ahead of U.S. inflation report; Avalanche surges

Bitcoin and Ether prices rose in Thursday morning trading in Asia along with most other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies, continuing almost a week’s run of price gains on signs of slower inflation in the U.S. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for December will be released Thursday in the U.S., a key inflation indicator for the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy. XRP posted the largest gains following developments in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s lawsuit against Ripple Labs, Inc., whose payment network runs on XRP.

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Fast facts

• Bitcoin rose 3% to US$17,968 in the 24 hours to 8 a.m. in Hong Kong, a 6.5% increase over the past calendar week. Ether gained 4.7% to US$1,389, a 10.6% weekly rise, according to CoinMarketCap.

• XRP gained 6.9% to US$0.37, a weekly gain of 7.8%. Defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor, James Finlan, tweeted that the SEC had filed an opposition motion to Ripple’s motion to seal documents, arguing they should be accessible to the public. The case, which began two years ago, appears to be nearing a summary judgment, with Ripple saying last week it expects a conclusion in the first half of this year.

• Litecoin jumped 4.2% to change hands at US$84.23 following a Twitter thread from crypto analyst Rekt Capital, that suggests a bullish outlook for the network around its next halving event in July this year. Like Bitcoin, Litecoin’s halving means miners will receive half their current reward of 6.25 LTC to counter inflation by maintaining scarcity.

• Avalanche surged 28.8% to US$16.37, its highest price since early November, following news that the network has partnered with web hosting service Amazon Web Services to “accelerate enterprise, institutional, and government adoption of blockchain.” Additionally, leading Web3 wallet platform Exodus also announced support for Avalanche this week.

• The total crypto market capitalization rose 0.9% to US$865.3 billion, while trading volume fell 2.2% to US$34.5 billion.

• U.S. equities gained on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.8%, the S&P 500 Index closed up 1.3% and the Nasdaq Composite Index finished the day 1.8% higher.

• Equities, like crypto, have received a shot in the arm early this year off the back of economic data last Friday suggesting that inflation may be easing in the world’s largest economy. December’s CPI will be released on Thursday morning in the U.S. and is expected to show an increase of 6.5% year-on-year, down from 7.1% in November, according to a survey of economists by Dow Jones.

• The Federal Reserve will be closely watching the number ahead of its meeting later this month to decide how to adjust interest rates in the country. The Fed sharply raised interest rates in 2022 to curb inflation, which drove stock indices lower and raised concerns the economy was headed for a recession.

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