Gate VenturesTL;DRThe labor market has softened significantly due to decreased hiring and job openings, raising concerns about a deterioration that could undermine economic expansion. However, the GDP estimation implied steady growth over the coming years.The Fed’s policy aims to support the job market before a recession. With inflation dropping lower than expected, an interest rate cut again in November faces few obstacles.The pre-market price of $EIGEN is currently $3.8, with a relatively wide distribution of airdrop tokens. Meme coins are leading the market, and the market cap of stablecoins has reached a new high in this cycle.Ethena is set to introduce a new stablecoin supported by BlackRock’s BUIDL. Last week, 15 deals raised $134.4M, with DeFi deals leading at $71.3M total raised. Overall deal funding fell 10.1% compared to the previous week.Macro OverviewInflation dropped more than expected to 2.2% in August, while weekly jobless claims fell to a four-month low. The Fed primarily uses inflation to decide whether to cut the interest rate. The inflation in August dropped more than expected to 2.2%, paving the way for the Fed to cut the interest rate again in November.According to the US Department of Labor, the weekly jobless claims dropped by 12,000 to 218,000, reaching a four-month low, and continuing claims dropped by 14,000 to 1.829 million. This shows that the job market is resilient, and the economy continues to expand in the third quarter. As mentioned during the last meeting in which the Fed decided to cut the interest rate by 50 bps, it was meant to demonstrate the policymakers’ commitment to sustaining a low unemployment rate.According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the second-quarter US GDP estimate remained at 3% annualized growth, faster than Wall Street had expected. This shows that economic growth exceeded the 1.4% annualized growth in the first quarter. The US economy will continue to expand steadily over the coming years, suggesting that the labor market is unlikely to deteriorate. The GDP growth beating Wall Street’s expectation and a four-month low weekly jobless claims pushed the S&P 500 to a new record high on Thursday, with chip stocks leading in gains.DXYThe dollar index fell 0.3% on Friday to its lowest since July 2023 after inflation data showed that inflation dropped more than expected, from 2.5% in July to 2.2% in August. The expectation that the Fed will continue to lower the interest rate will undermine the US dollar.Polymarket: Fed Interest Rates: September 2024The Fed’s commitment to sustaining the job market during the last meeting and the lower-than-expected inflation figures in August pushed the possibility of a 50 bps decrease in November slightly higher from 43% to 46% on Polymarket.Fed: Total AssetsThe total assets on the Fed’s balance decreased slightly by $29b. It was a relatively more significant weekly decrease in the past three months after the Fed announced it would shrink the balance sheet at a controlled pace.GoldThe gold price fell to a three-day low after the Bureau of Economic Analysis published a lower-than-expected inflation rate of 2.2%, but it’s still holding above $2,650. Even though the lower inflation warranted further interest rate cuts, the gold price failed to gain traction as speculated traders booked profits. However, many banks are upping their forecasts for gold with additional interest rate cuts in sight.Crypto Markets Overview1. Main AssetsBTC PriceETH PriceThe BTC and ETH price are separately around $64,000 and $2600 this Monday. Compared to last week, there is no change. We remain optimistic about the medium to long-term trend in this era of significant monetary easing.2. Total Market CapCrypto Total MarketcapCrypto Total Marketcap Excluding BTC and ETHThe total crypto market cap is about 2.2trillion as of this Monday, with the market cap of crypto excluding BTC and ETH being 629.3billion, a week-on-week increase by 0% and 3.4%.The performance of altcoins was stronger than BTC and ETH last week.3. Stablecoin FlowsTotal Stablecoins’ Marketcap, source: Defillama and Gate Ventures, as of 30th September 2024Major Stablecoins’ Marketcap, source: Defillama and Gate Ventures, as of 30th September 2024Last week, the market cap of stablecoins reached a new all-time high in this cycle. Particularly, USDT has a market cap of around $120 billion, and USDC around $36 billion. The increasing stablecoin supply suggests that upward momentum remains strong, indicating that the market outlook is still promising.4. Top 30 Crypto Assets PerformanceSource: Coingecko and Gate Ventures, as of 30th September 2024Last week, BTC maintained its price while ETH fell by 2%. Among the top 30 cryptocurrencies, DOGE, SHIB, and PEPE all recorded over a 10% increase. Meme coins led the market, indicating that sector turnover is quicker than before.5. Spotlight TokenThis week, EigenLayer will launch its token $EIGEN, and many exchanges have already followed suit. The current price on Aevo is $3.8. On the day of the Token Generation Event (TGE), the circulating supply will be 120.5 million, with a total supply of 1.67 billion. Therefore, the current market cap is $457.0 million, and the fully diluted valuation (FDV) is $6.346 billion. On average, 2% of the total tokens are unlocked each month.The Key Crypto Highlights1. Highlights1) Ethena is set to introduce a new stablecoin supported by BlackRock’s BUIDLEthena Labs, the developer of the decentralized stablecoin protocol Ethena, is working on a new stablecoin backed by a tokenized fund from BlackRock. On September 26, the company announced the project, called UStb (USTB), in partnership with the securities platform Securitize. This stablecoin will be supported by BlackRock’s tokenized BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), which has a stable value of $1 per token. The forthcoming UStb will exist alongside Ethena’s synthetic dollar stablecoin, USDe (USDE). This will be an independent product, distinct from USDe, providing users and exchange partners a new option with a different risk profile compared to USDe.2) Guggenheim has launched $20M in tokenized commercial paper on the Ethereum blockchainGuggenheim Treasury Securities (GTS), a subsidiary of Guggenheim Capital, has issued $20 million in Digital Commercial Paper (DCP) on the Ethereum blockchain. In a statement on September 26, Guggenheim announced that the issuance would take place through a blockchain platform called AmpFi.Digital, developed by Zeconomy, which provides tokenization services for qualified investors. This initiative comes as the market for tokenized U.S. treasuries has exceeded $2 billion in market capitalization, with notable participation from traditional finance leaders like BlackRock and Franklin Templeton. BlackRock’s tokenized fund, BUIDL, has a market cap of over $513 million, while Franklin Templeton’s FOBXX follows closely at $435 million.3) Kraken strengthens its presence in Europe by acquiring a Dutch crypto brokerKraken has announced its acquisition of Coin Meester (BCM), one of the oldest registered crypto brokers in the Netherlands, as stated on September 24. This acquisition is intended to bolster Kraken’s position in the Dutch market and extend its operations with virtual asset service provider (VASP) licenses in France and Poland. The timing is notable, as the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) will come into effect in December. The MiCA regulation aims to establish a regulated digital asset environment that safeguards crypto users while fostering innovation. It will streamline operations across EU member states, simplifying the regulatory landscape for businesses under a unified framework.2. Key Venture Deals1) Infinex raises $65M via Patron NFT sales to revolutionize DeFi user experienceInfinex secured $65 million in a private funding round led by Wormhole, Wintermute Trading, Pyth, Bankless Ventures, Solana Ventures, Framework Ventures, BlueYard Capital, Synthetix, and Everest Ventures Group. As a a front-end site that unifies decentralized finance applications into a single user-friendly layer, Infinex aims to enhance the on-chain user experience and act as an entry point for newcomers to the crypto world. It achieves this through several key innovations: it employs passkeys for authentication, which offer a more user-friendly and secure option compared to traditional seed phrases. It also eliminates the concern of gas fees, enabling users to engage with the platform without worrying about transaction costs. Moreover, Infinex features a unified interface that allows access to multiple blockchain protocols, streamlining the often complex DeFi environment for users.2) Initia has secured $14M in a Series A funding round, achieving a token valuation of $350M valuationInitia, a blockchain initiative focused on creating a Layer 1 network and a system for “interwoven optimistic rollups,” has successfully raised $14 million in a Series A funding round. The round was led by Tomasz Tunguz’s Theory Ventures, with participation from Delphi Ventures and Hack VC. Initia is working on two primary products: a Layer 1 blockchain and a platform for interwoven optimistic rollups. The rollups, known as Minitias, are Cosmos SDK chains that are compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), Move Virtual Machine (MoveVM), and CosmWasm’s WebAssembly Virtual Machine (WasmVM). This compatibility enables teams to tailor the processing and ordering of transactions on their chains within the Cosmos SDK framework.3) Mawari Raises $10.8M Strategic Funding to Scale Spatial ComputingMawari Network, a leader in Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN) and innovating in spatial computing, has raised $10.8 million in a strategic funding round led by Anfield LTD, Borderless Capital, and 1kx. As a trailblazer in 3D streaming, Mawari holds three granted patents with 11 more pending. The company serves 40 clients, including major brands like T-Mobile, Sapporo, KDDI, Netflix, and BMW. Mawari’s offering comprises two main elements: the Spatial Streaming SDK and the Mawari Network. The Spatial Streaming SDK is a comprehensive toolkit designed for easy integration with popular development platforms like Unity and Unreal Engine, allowing creators to concentrate on developing engaging content without the burden of backend complexities.The number of deals closed in the previous week was 15, with Infra leading the way with 7 deals, representing 47% of the total number of deals. The sector with the least deals is GameFi with 1 deal funded, representing approximately 7% of the total deals last week.Weekly Venture Deal Summary, Source: Cryptorank and Gate Ventures, as of 30th September 2024The total amount of funding raised in the previous week was $134.4m, with the Infra sector leading the way with $71.3m, representing 53% of overall financing. The sector with the least funding in the previous week was GameFi with a $6m raise, representing approximately 4% of overall financing respectively last week.Weekly Venture Deal Summary, Source: Cryptorank and Gate Ventures, as of 30th September 2024Total weekly fundraising fell to $134.4m for the last week of September, an decrease of 10.1% compared to the week prior. Weekly fundraising in the previous week was down approximately 35% year over year for the same period.About Gate VenturesGate Ventures, the venture capital arm of Gate.io, is focused on investments in decentralized infrastructure, middleware, and applications that will reshape the world in the Web 3.0 age. Working with industry leaders across the globe, Gate Ventures helps promising teams and startups that possess the ideas and capabilities needed to redefine social and financial interactions.Website: https://ventures.gate.io/Twitter: https://x.com/gate_venturesMedium: https://medium.com/@gate_venturesThanks for your attention.
