Bitcoin [BTC] showed resilience following the release of slower August inflation data. The US CPI (Consumer Price Index) rose by 0.2% last month, meeting analysts’ expectations. However, the core CPI exceeded forecasts at 0.3%. This data initially led to a dip in BTC’s price to $55.5k.
Prior to this decline, investors had already begun moving towards a risk-averse stance, with $750 million leaving exchanges on 10 September – a day before the CPI data was made public.
Nonetheless, the leading digital asset swiftly recovered, reaching a value of $58k at the time of writing. Joshua Kang, Head of Trading at Mozaik Capital, commented on the post-CPI market movements, stating that attention will now shift to the upcoming FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) meeting. He remarked,
“I believe we can take advantage of the dips to gradually increase positions. There might be some volatility before or after the FOMC, but substantial volume could drive a sustained uptrend in October.”
Following the sluggish CPI data, the market began pricing in an 85% probability of a 25-basis-point (bps) interest rate cut by the Fed in the forthcoming FOMC meeting.
QCP Capital, a crypto trading firm, reported a notable surge in demand for Bitcoin post-CPI data, signaling a bullish outlook for Q4. The firm observed,
“This is also reflected in options activity, with a growing interest in Calls with October to December expiries.”
Alameda/FTX Unstake $23.75M SOL Tokens
A wallet associated with Alameda/FTX withdrew 177,693 SOL tokens from Solana Proof of Stake (PoS) staking, with approximately $951 million SOL remaining staked. This move occurred in correlation with FTX’s progress in reimbursing affected users.
While FTX purportedly offloaded most of its SOL holdings through over-the-counter (OTC) markets, market analyst EmberCN speculated that the unstaked SOL could soon find its way to centralized exchanges.
Should this transpire, SOL might experience downward price pressure. Currently, the altcoin is trading at $134, slightly above its yearly support level of $128.
Swift Introduces Support for Digital Asset Transfers
In a significant development, Swift announced its intention to facilitate transfers of regulated digital and tokenized real-world assets as part of its “global interoperability strategy.” A segment of the firm’s statement mentioned,
“Our goal is for our members to leverage their Swift connections to conduct transactions seamlessly using both conventional and emerging asset and currency types.”
This announcement follows a series of blockchain payment trials conducted last year involving Chainlink, Ethereum, and several major banks such as BNY Mellon. It will enable parties to settle and exchange tokenized assets in real-time across the Swift network.