Cryptocurrency prices saw further buying pressure in Wednesday afternoon trading, with bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) approaching $23K, despite increased regulatory scrutiny of the industry and hotter-than-expected economic data. Bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) climbed 3.3% to $22.79K at 12:34 p.m. ET, and ethereum ( ETH-USD ) drifted higher by 2.1% to $1.57K. Other major tokens in the green were ripple ( XRP-USD ) ( +2.6% ), cardano ( ADA-USD ) ( +2.1% ) and dogecoin ( DOGE-USD ) ( +4.1% ). Binance coin ( BNB-USD ), the native token of crypto exchange Binance, gained 2% to over $300 at the time of writing even as trouble brews for Binance-branded dollar-pegged stablecoin BUSD ( BUSD-USD ). Recall earlier this week when the New York Department of Financial Services ordered Paxos Trust Company to stop issuing BUSD ( BUSD-USD ), the third largest stablecoin by market cap. In a little more than two days, the crackdown has triggered $900M in redemptions of BUSD, Bloomberg reported. And cryptos appear to be defying the "good news is bad news" narrative, in that stronger economic data would reflect persistent inflation pressures thus potentially extending the Federal Reserve's interest-rate hiking path. U.S. retail sales , for instance, earlier rebounded and blew past expectations in January. The broader stock market in turn was mixed , with the tech-heavy Nasdaq ( COMP.IND ) the only index in the green, rising 0.3% . Most crypto-exposed equities caught a bid, including: Silvergate Capital ( SI ) ( +17.6% ), Coinbase Global ( COIN ) ( +9.9% ) Bit Digital ( BTBT ) ( +7.3% ), Marathon Digital ( MARA ) ( +10% ) and Riot Platforms ( RIOT ) ( +8.7% ). Earlier this week, (Feb. 14) The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission reportedly proposed to make it hard for crypto firms to be qualified custodians .
$285 Million in Bitcoin Shorts Wiped Out
