Bitcoin climbed close to 111,000 dollars on Friday, heading for weekly gains as news of an upcoming meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping helped calm trade tensions. Softer-than-expected U.S. inflation data also gave investors a boost.
As of 10:01 ET, Bitcoin was up about 1.1%, trading at 110,880 dollars. The world’s largest cryptocurrency is now on track for a 2% gain this week, recovering from losses over the past two weeks.
Traders grew more optimistic after the White House confirmed that Trump and Xi will meet next week during the APEC summit in South Korea. The announcement followed weeks of escalating tariff threats between the two nations that had made investors nervous.
Meanwhile, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer are in Malaysia for talks with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng. Their goal is to ease tensions and avoid a new round of tariffs, including the U.S. proposal to impose a 100% tax on Chinese imports. The discussions will also address China’s export limits on rare earth minerals.
The easing trade worries lifted risk appetite across global markets. Stocks and cryptocurrencies both rose, showing how Bitcoin is now moving more closely with broader market sentiment.
Adding to the positive news, U.S. inflation numbers came in lower than expected. The consumer price index rose 0.3% in September, while annual inflation slowed to 3%. Economists had predicted slightly higher numbers. Core inflation, which excludes food and energy, stayed steady at 3% year-on-year.
The data, released despite the ongoing government shutdown, suggests that inflation pressures may be easing. Investors now expect the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates by a quarter point at its meeting next week, which would bring rates down to between 3.75% and 4%.
In another major development, President Trump granted a full pardon to Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, the founder of Binance. Zhao had pleaded guilty in 2023 to failing to maintain proper anti–money laundering controls and served four months in prison after Binance agreed to pay a 4.3 billion dollar fine. Zhao thanked the president in a post on X, saying he was grateful and ready to help make “America the Capital of Crypto.”
Most other cryptocurrencies also rose on Friday. Ethereum was up 2.2% at 3,934 dollars, while XRP gained more than 4% to 2.50 dollars. Solana added nearly 1%, Cardano rose 1.7%, and Polygon gained 1.5%. Among meme tokens, both Dogecoin and the $TRUMP token climbed over 1%.
