This is despite higher inflation readings in the US and investor expectation that the bankrupt FTX exchange will soon start selling its remaining crypto assets

Bitcoin rose despite higher-than-expected inflation figures in the US and FTX gaining court approval to sell its crypto assets.

The world’s biggest crypto in terms of market cap (BTC-USD) gained 1.4% in the past 24 hours to $26,320, according to CoinGecko. This is despite higher inflation readings in the US and investor expectation that the bankrupt FTX exchange will soon start selling its remaining crypto assets.

US inflation in August increased for the first time since June 2022, increasing to 3.7% after a rise in energy prices. This was higher than July’s 3.2% reading and above the consensus forecast of 3.6%.

Inflation stays far above the Fed’s target rate of 2%. August’s reading leaves the door open for further interest rate hikes from the Fed.

On Wednesday, FTX received US court approval to begin liquidation of its remaining crypto currency assets. The sell-off will let the bankrupt exchange repay creditors in US dollars and minimise risks related to price volatility in crypto markets.

The exchange was permitted to sell up to $100 million in crypto currency per week. The firm can also enter into hedging and staking agreements that will let it minimise the risk of price volatility and earn passive income through staking crypto tokens, such as ether.

Top altcoins did not suffer a market rout after the FTX liquidation proposal was granted. The exchange’s remaining crypto-asset holdings are heavily weighted towards blue-chip altcoins, especially solana and ether.

Apart from having more than $560 million in bitcoin, FTX also owns $1.16 billion in solana (SOL-USD), $192 million in ethereum (ETH-USD), and $137 million in aptos (APT-USD), as per a recent court filing.

Solana holders showed no sign of worry considering how much of the token could be sold gradually over the coming weeks. SOL posted a 3.4% gain in the past 24 hours, to a current price of $18.83.

However, traders may be expecting that the remaining FTX holdings in solana and ether could be staked instead of sold on the open market, so the exchange could gain yields on the assets.

The global crypto currency market cap rose 1.4% in the past 24 hours to $1.09 trillion, according to CoinGecko data. Some of the inflows that have boosted the market have come down to memecoins. Of the top ten memecoins in terms of market cap, most were in the green today.