Inflation soars, crypto sputters

October's Consumer Price Index recorded a jarring 6% year-over-year increase and, within a few minutes of the U.S. government’s statistic being made known, the price of Bitcoin hit a new all-time high of about $69,000.

But that was yesterday. BTC has shed 6% since then. And suddenly there are rumblings that inflation may have peaked.

Gus Faucher, chief economist at PNC Financial Services, told CNBC that he thinks some of the overheating in the economy that has been taking place is reversing itself. “Inflation is still high, and the speed at which supply and demand catch up will vary across different parts of the economy,” he said. “But it looks like the worst of the run up in import inflation might be over.”

What metric is he toking?

The Baltic Dry Index, tracking daily freight rates for ships carrying raw materials, jumped from 1,350 in December 2020 up to 2,000 in January 2021. And it has kept climbing all year. Eventually, during the first week of October, the BDI reached 5,650, its highest level in more than a decade.

But it has declined by 50% since then.

Meanwhile, in the past 24 hours, Bitcoin, after reaching $69,000, a record high, plummeted to as low as about $64,000 before settling above $65,000.

A check of BTC as of 9 a.m. (EST) had the largest digital asset at $65,050.

A slew of Big Ten coins were tanking, none more so than XRP which fell 9% over the past 24 hours to $1.21. XRP is flat over the past seven days. Dogecoin, meanwhile, has shed 3% in the past week and is down again today.

A cheery, whimsical start to the week for crypto hit a lull but that could all change in time for the start of the weekend.

By Sunday, VanEck will know whether the SEC will give the money manager a thumbs-up to launch a BTC fund.

It's the first in a line of spot BTC ETFs seeking approval, another supposed floodgate moment, possibly triggering an even greater deluge relative to the one that followed last month’s launch of BTC futures funds.

The SEC's maximum 240-day review period for the VanEck application paperwork is about to expire. Regulators must decide by Nov. 14.

So far this week, traders seem to be trying to front-run any possible positive news, Luno's Sam Kopelman told Forbes.

But don't expect that green light to come, according to Dave Nadig, director of research at ETF Trends.

Still, whether it comes in a few days or even a few years, approval, once it does get granted, means "trillions of dollars" will flow into BTC, predicts MicroStrategy chief/BTC bull Michael Saylor. He expects a U.S.-based, fully fledged BTC ETF would act as an institutional on-ramp.