Bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) climbed in Tuesday mid-afternoon trading in what has been an exceptionally volatile session as traders digested the latest inflation report, which showed consumer prices reaccelerated in January . The CPI data pointed to more persistent inflation than what markets had priced in in recent months, potentially leading the Federal Reserve to extend its battle against price pressures via more interest-rate increases than projected. At the onset of the CPI release, bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) actually edged lower -- as would be expected -- by as much as 0.4% to $21.59K, only to erase those losses later in the morning and then perk up 2.4% to $22.20K as of 3:34 p.m. ET. Ethereum's ( ETH-USD ) intraday price action echoed that of BTC, now up 4.6% to $1.55K. Crypto traders also seemed to have shook off fears of increased stablecoin regulation, which has put some downward pressure on prices in recent days. "The lack of clarity on the regulatory treatment of stablecoins in the U.S. could have significant impacts on the industry," Cristiano Ventricelli, assistant vice president at Moody’s Investors Service, told Seeking Alpha in an emailed statement. "Capital may migrate to stablecoins issued in jurisdictions with more tailored regulatory frameworks," he added. "Also, this may result in capital migration to jurisdictions with higher risk tolerance, which could lead to more exotic products that carry higher risks." Stablecoin issuer Paxos Trust Company earlier this week was ordered by the New York Department of Financial Services to cease minting of new dollar-pegged BUSD ( BUSD-USD ) tokens. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission also sent Paxos a Wells Notice earlier this month claiming BUSD is an unregistered security. "Regardless of whether the SEC is going after Binance specifically or if this is just the first of many shots from the SEC, this is a problem for crypto ," said Seeking Alpha contributor Mike Fay. Crypto-related stocks also pushed higher during power hour, with Marathon Digital ( NASDAQ: MARA ) +14.8% , MicroStrategy ( NASDAQ: MSTR ) +9.8% , Silvergate Capital ( NYSE: SI ) +9.8% , Bakkt Holdings ( NYSE: BKKT ) +12.5% , and Bit Digital ( NASDAQ: BTBT ) +13.6% among some of the biggest winners. As traders parsed the CPI report, Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker said the central bank is likely close to pausing rate hikes .
