Cryptocurrencies are trading in mildly positive territory even as markets wait anxiously for the CPI readings from the U.S. on Wednesday.
The inflation readings are expected to provide clarity to the Fed in the monetary policy path, going forward. Markets expect the headline inflation to fall to 3.1 percent, from the 4-percent level in the month of May. Core inflation, excluding the volatile food and energy prices is seen falling to 5 percent, from 5.3 percent in the previous month.
Comments from Fed officials fueled expectations that the Fed's rate hiking cycle has peaked, supporting sentiment.
Amidst the expectations, the Dollar Index, a measure of the Dollar's strength against a basket of 6 currencies has edged 0.05 percent lower to 101.92. The CME FedWatch tool shows a 92.4 percent probability for a quarter point rate hike in the next review. The expectation was 93 percent a day earlier and 86.8 percent a week earlier.
Hopes of a regulatory approval for the spot bitcoin ETF also kept markets firm. Former SEC Chair Jay Clayton was in an interview with CNBC quoted as saying that if the Bitcoin spot market has similar efficacy to the futures market, it would be hard to resist approving a bitcoin ETF.
Overall crypto market capitalization has increased to $1.18 trillion, from $1.17 trillion a day earlier.
Market leader Bitcoin (BTC) traded between $31,026.08 and $30,159.86 in the past 24 hours. It is currently trading at $30,423.61, having added 0.84 percent in the past 24 hours. On a weekly basis, however the leading cryptocurrency has erased close to 2 percent. Bitcoin's crypto market dominance is steady at 49.90 percent, the level a day earlier.
Despite the 4.5 percent loss made in the past week, Ethereum traded in the overnight green zone, gaining 0.34 percent. The leading alternate coin is currently changing hands at $1,869.76, after ranging between $1,905.46 and $1,861.73 in the past 24 hours. Ethereum's crypto market dominance has decreased to 18.99 percent versus 19.1 percent a day earlier.
4th ranked BNB (BNB) added 1.9 percent overnight, 0.70 percent in the past week and 4.5 percent over the past 30 days. The cryptocurrency has also entered the green zone on a year-to-date basis.
76th ranked Compound (COMP) led gains among the top 100 cryptocurrencies with an overnight gain of 7.9 percent. 9th ranked Solana (SOL) followed with overnight gains of 6.9 percent. 12th ranked Polygon (MATIC) gained 5.9 percent, ahead of the Polygon 2.0 rollout.
64th ranked eCash (XEC) shed 3.7 percent in the past 24 hours. 45th ranked Algorand (ALGO) and 43rd ranked Maker (MKR) also lost more than 1.5 percent overnight. Algofi, the largest DeFi protocol in the Algorand ecosystem, had earlier announced that it would be shutting down.
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