Bitcoin bounced on Tuesday, rising with other risk assets as traders digested a light inflation reading.

On Tuesday the price of the flagship cryptocurrency rose 4.5% to $97,044.35, according to Coin Metrics, after sliding below the $90,000 support level to start the week. The broader crypto market, as measured by the CoinDesk 20 index, added 3.9%.

Shares of Coinbase and MicroStrategy gained more than 3% and 5%, respectively. Mining stocks Mara Holdings and Core Scientific were up by roughly 5%.

The move comes as the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported cooler-than-expected inflation Tuesday. The producer price index, which measures wholesale inflation, increased just 0.2% in December, while economists polled by Dow Jones had estimated a 0.4% rise.

Crypto prices are stuck in a tug of war between investors’ concerns about rising inflation under the incoming administration of Donald Trump and optimism over the president-elect’s pro crypto leadership, which could meaningfully support the industry this year. As a result, traders are expecting a choppier-than-anticipated January, which could extend through the full quarter.

Bitcoin tumbled last week after stronger-than-expected payroll numbers caused a spike in bond yields, prompting investors to dump growth-oriented risk assets. Headlines about Trump’s tariff plans also spooked investors, giving a boost to the dollar, which has an inverse relationship with bitcoin.

Fundstrat’s Tom Lee told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Monday that bitcoin could correct to $70,000 before breaking to new records and eventually end the year between $200,000 and $250,000. Crypto traders are accustomed to steep drawdowns in bitcoin during a bull market.

Bitcoin is 10% off its Dec. 17 record. It’s up 3% in 2025.

President Joe Biden issued an executive order Thursday aimed at speeding domestic construction of artificial intelligence infrastructure and shoring up the national security risk involved in the technology.

The move empowers the U.S. Department of Defense and Department of Energy to lease federal sites for gigawatt-scale AI data centers.

“AI is poised to have large effects across our economy, including in health care, transportation, education, and beyond, and it is too important to be offshored,” the White House said in a release.

The order also issued guidelines for AI developers using the sites to not only build, operate and maintain the leased centers at full cost, but also to deliver clean energy resources to match their capacity needs to prevent increases in electricity costs.

AI models, especially large language models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, rely on data centers to train on vast amounts of data and generate more sophisticated, human-like answers to user prompts. To cool the power-intensive structures, AI developers have had to increase water consumption, which critics have pointed out as harmful to the environment and unsustainable in the long run.

Tech firms have responded by exploring other forms of power to maintain their data centers. In recent months, Google, Microsoft and Amazon have each announced nuclear power deals, with Microsoft signing a deal with Constellation to bring the Three Mile Island reactor back online.

Additional reporting by CNBC’s Ryan Browne.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Klarna has agreed a major new distribution partnership with fellow fintech unicorn Stripe, in a bid to expand reach and add more merchants in the lead-up to its upcoming listing in the U.S.

The Swedish firm’s buy now, pay later (BNPL) service will become available as a payment option for merchants using Stripe’s payment tools in 26 countries, the two companies told CNBC Tuesday.

This isn’t the first time Klarna and Stripe, which is dual-headquartered in San Francisco, have partnered. In 2021, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic-fueled fintech craze, Stripe announced Klarna would offer its BNPL plans to the firm’s merchants — but in a more limited capacity.

The new deal comes with improve functionality for Stripe merchants, including the ability to A/B test Klarna and measure real-time conversion rates.

BNPL plans are installment loans that allow a consumer to buy something online or in store and then pay off their debt, either at a later date or over a period of equal monthly installments. BNPL arrangements have become a popular way for people to spread the cost of everyday purchases.

The new tie-up with Stripe gives Klarna a big boost at a time when it’s gearing up for a hotly anticipated initial public offering. Klarna confidentially filed to IPO in the United States in November. The company could fetch a valuation of as much as $20 billion, according to a Bloomberg News report out last year.

Klarna makes money from the fees that retailers pay on each transaction processed through its platform. In return for giving Klarna visibility as a payment option in its checkout tools, Stripe will get a share of the money Klarna makes from a given transaction.

Klarna declined to disclose financial terms of its deal with Stripe.

“This is really significant for Klarna,” David Sykes, Klarna’s chief commercial officer, told CNBC, adding the company has already doubled the number of new merchants in the three months since it began implementing the new integration with Stripe in October.

“We added 100,000 new merchants in 2024 and we are already seeing that growth rate increase with this agreement.” he added.

Analysts recently valued Klarna, which was founded in 2005, in the $15 billion range. At its peak during the pandemic-led surge in fintech stocks, the company attracted a valuation of $46 billion in a funding round led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 back in 2021.

In 2022, Klarna took an 85% haircut in a fresh round of funding that valued the firm at $6.7 billion.

The deal also has the potential to drive incremental revenue gains for Stripe, too.

BNPL proponents tout these plans as a way to increase the overall level of transactions, as shoppers can buy more items during a shorter term window and then pay them off over a longer timeframe.

A study Stripe ran last year found businesses offering BNPL as a payment method generated up to 14% more revenue from increased conversion and higher average order values.

“We’ve seen BNPL volume grow 172% last year on Stripe, which is much faster than other mainstream payment methods,” Jeanne Grosser, chief business officer of Stripe, told CNBC, adding that the deal with Klarna was a “win-win” for both firms.

Stripe has long been speculated to be a near-term IPO candidate — for its part, though, the company says it’s in no rush. The company, also a victim of a slump in fintech valuations, slashed its valuation to $50 billion in 2023 from $95 billion in 2021. The company’s valuation reportedly rebounded to $70 billion, as part of a secondary share sale.