Decentral Block Post

Bitcoin (BTC) spiked higher prior to the April 12 Wall Street open as United States inflation data outperformed market forecasts.

CPI offers "great inflation print" for risk-on bulls

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView followed BTC/USD as it neared new ten-month highs on Bitstamp.

Widely-predicted volatility entered immediately following the release of Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for March. This broadly conformed to expectations, with the year-on-year increase undercutting assumptions by 0.2%.

"The all items index increased 5.0 percent for the 12 months ending March; this was the smallest 12-month increase since the period ending May 2021," an accompanying press release from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics confirmed.

This was nonetheless enough to spark some optimistic upside on crypto markets ahead of the Wall Street open, with potential further upside in line with equities to come.

Bitcoin (BTC) traced $30,000 on April 12 as looming United States macroeconomic data heightened nerves.

Analyst warns markets "discounting significance" of CPI

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD hovering near the significant psychological level after overnight lows of $29,875 on Bitstamp.

Consumer Price Index (CPI) for March are due at 2.30pm Eastern time, followed by minutes from last month’s meeting of the Federal Reserve Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), at which policymakers confirmed a 0.25% interest rate hike.

“Today is US CPI day, and for the first time in a long while, it feels like the market is discounting the significance of this event…,” analytics account Tedtalksmacro wrote in part of Twitter commentary.

“Trader positioning leading into today is nowhere near as conservative/risk-off as we typically would observe.”

Bitcoin (BTC) traced $30,000 on April 12 as looming United States macroeconomic data heightened nerves.

Analyst warns markets "discounting significance" of CPI

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD hovering near the significant psychological level after overnight lows of $29,875 on Bitstamp.

Consumer Price Index (CPI) for March are due at 2.30pm Eastern time, followed by minutes from last month’s meeting of the Federal Reserve Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), at which policymakers confirmed a 0.25% interest rate hike.

“Today is US CPI day, and for the first time in a long while, it feels like the market is discounting the significance of this event…,” analytics account Tedtalksmacro wrote in part of Twitter commentary.

“Trader positioning leading into today is nowhere near as conservative/risk-off as we typically would observe.”

The federal court in Brooklyn, New York, charged a former investment banker and registered broker for allegedly defrauding numerous investors by promising profits on fake cryptocurrency investments and misappropriating the funds received to finance his lifestyle. 

Documents with the court claim the defendant, Rashawn Russell, misused the growing interest in crypto investments to mislead investors. Russell convinced multiple investors to reinvest their fiat savings into cryptocurrencies, often promising significant or “guaranteed” returns. However, it is alleged that Russell misappropriated the investors’ money to fund his personal lifestyle.

Breon Peace, United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York, revealed the court’s intent to pursue the case against the former banker:

“As alleged, Russell turned the demand for cryptocurrency investments into a scheme to defraud numerous investors in order to fund his lifestyle. This Office will continue to aggressively pursue fraudsters perpetrating these schemes against investors in the digital asset markets.”

After convincing investors about the fake cryptocurrency investment scheme based on his credibility as a former investment banker and a registered broker with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Russell allegedly used their money to gamble and repay other investors.