According to both the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the ADP, the labor market remains resilient despite showing some signs of weakness. The Fed is watching the labor market numbers closely to contemplate the next move for monetary policy. The odds for the Fed to make a significant cut in November faded ahead of the September labor market report.Last week’s market was dominated by meme coins, with both Neiro and Popcat showing strong performance, while SUI is just a step away from reaching its all-time high.Aerodrome has reached a record weekly trading volume on the Base Layer 2 network. Last week, 7 deals raised $28.9M, with Infra deals leading at $15.4M total raised. Overall deal funding fell 80.7% compared to the previous week.

More jobs were added to the market in September, with the unemployment rate dropping lower: The US labor market significantly outperformed expectations in September, adding far more jobs than anticipated, while the unemployment rate fell unexpectedly. According to Friday’s data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 254,000 payrolls were added, surpassing economists’ projections of 150,000.

The unemployment rate declined to 4.1% in September, down from 4.2% in August. Job gains for the month exceeded the revised 159,000 added in August. Additionally, revisions to July and August data revealed that the US economy added 72,000 more jobs over those two months than initially reported.

ADP also showed that the private sector picked up in September, indicating a strongly-holding labor market. Companies added 143,000 jobs in September, up from the revised 103,000 in August and surpassing the 128,000 jobs economists had predicted in a Dow Jones poll.

The Fed’s Chair Jerome Powell struck a more hawkish tone earlier this week, stating that he anticipates two additional 25 basis point rate cuts this year, assuming the economy performs as expected. The odds for a more significant interest rate cut in November faded as resilient job market data was published. As a result, the US dollar index has been rising and holding steady above 101.

Due to resilient job reports, the odds for a 25bps interest rate cut in November surged to 80.5% over the past week.

The total assets on the Fed’s balance decreased by $33b. The Fed has been shrinking down the balance sheet at a more significant pace since two weeks ago.

Gold prices pulled back after a stronger-than-expected US jobs report suggested the labor market remains robust, signaling that the Federal Reserve is likely to ease its policy with gradual 25bps rate cuts. Traders responded to the jobs data by pushing the US 10-year Treasury yield up 12 basis points to 3.971%, its highest level since mid-August 2024. This rise in yields was a key factor limiting gold prices.

Crypto Markets Overview

1. Main Assets

The BTC and ETH price are separately around $64,000 and $2500 this Monday. Compared to last week, they fell by 0% and 4% respectively. The recent performance shows significant fluctuations. Meanwhile, BTC remains stronger than altcoins, especially Ether.

2. Total Market Cap

As of this Monday, the total crypto market cap is approximately 2.17 trillion, with the market cap of crypto excluding BTC and ETH standing at 611.3 billion. This represents a week-on-week change of 0% for the total market and an increase of 2.7% for altcoins, indicating that altcoins underperformed compared to BTC last week.

3. Stablecoin Flows

Last week, the total market value of stablecoins reached $172.4 billion, continuing to maintain growth. Among them, USDT was $120 billion and USDC was $35.3 billion. The continuous growth of stablecoins provides momentum for future upward trends in the market.

4. Top 30 Crypto Assets Performance

Last week, BTC fell by 1.2%, ETH dropped by 5%, and the overall market experienced a decline. However, TAO, APT, and SUI all saw gains of over 10%. Casper, Render, and Ripple experienced the most significant declines, each exceeding 10%.

5. Spotlight Token

SUI, in particular, has performed exceptionally well recently, with its price reaching $1.91 — just shy of its all-time high (ATH) of $2.08. Despite this strong performance, there is potential risk due to the large token release during the significant price surge. Its market cap currently stands at $5.2 billion, with a fully diluted valuation (FDV) of $19 billion, which presents some risk to investors.

The Key Crypto Highlights

1. Highlights

1) Aerodrome has reached a record weekly trading volume on the Base Layer 2 network

Aerodrome has established a strong presence within Coinbase’s Layer 2 (L2) network, Base, achieving record weekly trading volumes. Since its launch in August 2023, the decentralized exchange (DEX) reported approximately $4.7 billion in trading volume for the week beginning September 29, 2024, exceeding the combined total of the previous two weeks. Data from DefiLlama indicates that a significant portion of Aerodrome’s trading volume came from Slipstream pools, which are concentrated liquidity pools designed for token swaps with minimal slippage. This arrangement reduces the gap between expected and actual transaction prices for traders. Since the introduction of Slipstream in May, the availability of concentrated liquidity has contributed to a remarkable increase in trading volume.

2) Visa plans to launch a live platform in 2025 to assist banks in issuing digital tokens

Visa has introduced the Visa Tokenized Asset Platform (VTAP), a new initiative aimed at helping banks issue fiat-backed tokens on blockchain networks. VTAP leverages Visa’s expertise in emerging technologies, including smart contracts, to enable banks to provide blockchain services. The company intends to roll out this solution to its global network of over 15,000 clients across more than 200 countries. On October 3, Visa announced that VTAP is now available through its Developer Platform, allowing participating institutions to create and test digital assets such as stablecoins and Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). While the platform currently operates in a sandbox environment, Visa plans to make it available for live use by 2025.

3) Kasikornbank has introduced Thailand’s first licensed digital asset custodian

Thailand’s Kasikornbank, the country’s second-largest bank by assets, plans to launch orbix Custodian as the first licensed digital asset custodian in Thailand. Kasikornbank, also referred to as KBank, announced that orbix Custodian has received a Digital Asset Custodian license from the Ministry of Finance and will be regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The license for orbix Custodian was granted on September 13 but was announced two weeks later. The business is expected to begin operations in early 2025. Kasikornbank holds orbix Custodian through its digital-focused subsidiary, Unita Capital, which also includes orbix Invest and orbix Technology. The orbix Trade platform, a cryptocurrency exchange previously known as Satang, was acquired by Unita Capital in October 2023.

2. Key Venture Deals

1) SecondLive secured $12M in a private sale funding round, led by Crypto.com Capital

SecondLive has raised $12 million in funding, led by Crypto.com and supported by investors like Spark Digital, MetaEstate, and TAISU Ventures. It offers a “Multiple 3D Virtual Space” where users can embody their ideal virtual personas and engage in activities such as virtual presentations, singing, dancing, shopping, and managing business tasks. Additionally, users can utilize the SecondLive Symbol to create their own content and generate revenue from their creations. The platform is highly flexible for creative expression, allowing users to design various elements. With the Symbol Manager, you can customize accessories and outfits to suit your style preferences.

2) Layer has secured $6M in funding, led by 1kx, to enhance Ethereum’s capabilities

Layer has secured $6 million in a seed funding round led by 1kx, with additional support from Fabric Ventures, Arrington Capital, and IOBC. The platform leverages Web Assembly, enabling developers to write applications in languages such as Rust that can operate across different environments, including iPhones. Layer’s forthcoming product, the “Layer SDK,” will empower developers to create new layers atop Ethereum for full-stack blockchain applications, which will include smart contracts, consensus mechanisms, user interfaces, and verifiable off-chain services like AI agents, ZK provers, serverless functions, decentralized messaging servers, and more.

3) Sophon has secured funding from Binance Labs to boost Web3 integration in entertainment, gaming, and AI

Sophon, an ecosystem focused on entertainment applications in gaming, social, and AI, has received funding from Binance Labs. It leverages the unique features of the ZK Stack, including native account abstraction for a gasless experience. The zkSync codebase, recognized as the most battle-tested zkEVM, consistently delivers top-tier throughput and cost efficiency in public benchmarks across the Ethereum L2 stack. This is essential for creating a scalable and stable environment for the next generation of consumer applications. Sophon is positioning itself as the preferred platform for both developers and users. With its mainnet set to launch soon, Sophon is primed to foster a vibrant ecosystem that goes beyond just financial incentives.

The number of deals closed in the previous week was 7, with Infra leading the way with 4 deals, representing 58% of the total number of deals. The GameFi, Data and Social sectors had 1 deal closed each, representing approximately 14% of the total deals respectively last week.

The total amount of funding raised in the previous week was $28.9m, with the Infra sector leading the way with $15.4m, representing 53% of overall financing. The sector with the least funding in the previous week was Data with a $0.55m raise, representing approximately 2% of overall financing respectively last week.

Total weekly fundraising fell to $28.9m for the first week of October, an decrease of 80.7% compared to the week prior. Weekly fundraising in the previous week was down approximately 55.3% year over year for the same period.

About Gate Ventures

Gate 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/
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