Bitcoin (BTC) Trims Thursday's Inflation-Led Losses

This article originally appeared in First Mover, CoinDesk's daily newsletter, putting the latest moves in crypto markets in context.

Bitcoin (BTC) trimmed Thursday’s losses and traded above $61,000 on Friday, as a U.S. inflation report showed a smaller-than-expected increase in consumer prices last month.

BTC fell to $59,000 following a U.S. CPI report that showed hotter-than-expected inflation in September, and seemed to put paid to hopes of another 50 basis-point interest-rate cut by the Fed next month. The bounce left BTC about 0.25% higher than 24 hours ago.

The broader digital asset market showed stronger gains of 1.65%, as measured by the CoinDesk 20 Index. XRP and DOGE led the way, adding around 2.5% and 2% respectively.

Among metaverse tokens, SAND fell 1.2%, while MANA rose 0.8%. Both tokens showed gains of over 10% over the past seven days.

Donald Trump's odds of a return to the White House surged to a more than two-month high on Polymarket. Traders are giving the former president a 55.8% shot versus Vice President Kamala Harris' 43.8% on the prediction market site, where more than $1.6 billion has been wagered on the November election.

Trump's chances have risen to levels last seen days after President Joe Biden said he wouldn't seek reelection, clearing the way for Harris to take over. Another prediction market, Kalshi, which just recently won permission to list contracts based on U.S. elections, also shows Trump in the lead over Harris: 52% to 48%.

Crypto exchange Bitnomial filed suit against the SEC, saying the regulator overextended its jurisdiction in seeking to regulate a proposed XRP futures contract together with the CFTC.

In a Thursday filing with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the company said the futures fall solely in the CFTC's remit and the SEC's involvement would add significantly to the company's regulatory burden.

The exchange self-certified that the XRP futures did not violate the CFTC's regulations on Aug. 9, it said. "Bitnomial disagrees with the SEC’s view that XRP is an investment contract and, therefore, a security, and that XRP Futures are thus security futures," it said in the filing.