Stronger-than-expected retail sales and a drop in jobless claims have a great impact on the next US Fed rate decision, highlighting resilient economic activity amid mixed data.The Eurozone sees ease in inflation and a stagnated economy, leading to an interest cut by the ECB for the third time and a potential interest rate cut in November by the UK.Ape Chain and ApeExpress launched last Sunday, surging 100% in one day, while Trump’s election bet led to a $2 billion net inflow into ETFs, and TAO and SUI both dropped over 10%.AI-Generated meme coin GOAT surges more than 500% in just one week. Last week, 20 deals raised $379.9M, with Infra deals leading at $265.2M total raised. Overall deal funding rose 550% compared to the previous week.

Retail sales rose 0.4% in September while US jobless claims fell:

Consumer spending remained strong in September, highlighting the economy’s resilience, according to a report from the Commerce Department on Thursday. Retail sales rose by a seasonally adjusted 0.4% for the month, surpassing August’s unchanged 0.1% increase and the 0.3% forecast from Dow Jones.

The Labor Department’s report on Thursday showed that initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped by 19,000 to 241,000. However, the number of Americans receiving jobless benefits rose by 9,000 to around 1.87 million for the week ending October 5, marking the highest level since late July.

On Thursday, the European Central Bank lowered interest rates for the third time this year, citing improved inflation control in the eurozone. However, the region’s economic outlook continues to deteriorate.

Expectations for a UK interest rate cut in November have increased after wage growth fell to its slowest rate in over two years. Official data shows pay rising by 4.9% between June and August, down from the previous 5.1%.

A strong rally for the US dollar was seen earlier this month. The US dollar retreated on Friday before and after a series of speeches by Fed officials. The economy has been picking up while jobless claims have been dropping. An aggressive November cut seems unlikely.

The economy has been resilient, and retail sales are performing better than expected. On top of that, the jobless claims have been dropping. The possibility for a massive rate cut in November seems unlikely.

After aggressively shrinking the balance sheet for two consecutive weeks earlier this month, the Fed has been taking a more moderated pace for shrinking down the balance sheet. The total assets on the Fed’s balance decreased by $7b.

This week, the gold price broke the $2,700 bar, another record high. The momentum continued amid uncertainty surrounding the US election and tensions in the Middle East. As more central banks ease their monetary policies and the tensions in the Middle East continue, the gold price is expected to further accelerate.

Crypto Markets Overview

1. Main Assets

This Monday, the price of BTC reached around 69,000, and ETH was around 2,750, both with a week-on-week increase of over 10%. Last week, the BTC ETF had a net inflow of $2 billion, which contributed to the significant rise in BTC which may be partly attributed to the bet on Trump’s election. Compared to altcoins, BTC remains strong.

2. Total Market Cap

As of this Monday, the total market value of cryptocurrencies reached $2.32 trillion, with the market value of altcoins excluding BTC and ETH at $637.7 billion, representing increases of 9% and 5.7% respectively compared to last week. The altcoin market remains sluggish, with the main increase last week seen in the gaming sector led by Apecoin.

3. Stablecoin Flows

Last week, the total market value of stablecoins was 172.9 billion, experiencing several consecutive months of growth, with the current growth rate slowing down again. Among them, USDT is approximately 120 billion and USDC is 34.7 billion.

4. Top 30 Crypto Assets Performance

Last week, BTC and ETH both rose by about 8%, but the overall increase in altcoins was still less than that of BTC. The market trend last week was mainly driven by the inflow of BTC ETFs, which led to overall growth. Meanwhile, the launch of ApeChain boosted the gaming sector. TRX, SUI, and TAO all recorded declines last week, with TAO dropping 12%, primarily due to a correction after its excessive rise in the previous month.

5. Spotlight Token

On October 20th, BAYC announced the launch of Ape Chain, an EVM chain built on Arbitrum Orbit. This is an infrastructure chain specifically constructed for Ape coin ecosystem projects. The features of this chain include using Ape as the native gas token and employing a method where the native revenue chain Ape chain re-stakes stablecoins into the Sky protocol to allow on-chain users to earn returns.

At the same time, the project ApeExpress on Ape Chain was also launched. This is a project similar to pump.fun. In just the first hour of launch, Ape Express’s trading volume exceeded one million dollars, and within 12 hours of launch, the trading volume had surpassed 25 million dollars.

The Key Crypto Highlights

1. Highlights

1) AI-generated meme coin GOAT surges over 500% in a week, signifying a trend toward AI-driven innovation

GOAT, an AI-generated meme coin that has rapidly surged in value over the past three days. With a 239.9% increase in just 72 hours, this Solana-based token has jumped from obscurity to prominence. The ascent of GOAT underscores a growing trend in the crypto industry: the increasing influence of AI. While meme coins have typically been linked to online communities and influencers, GOAT signifies a move toward AI-driven innovation. Another crucial factor in GOAT’s swift rise is its listings on major exchanges. In the past week, GOAT has been added to platforms like Coinex, Lbank, Poloniex, and Crypto.com, enhancing its accessibility to a broader audience. Additionally, it has gained popularity on Raydium, a decentralized exchange (DEX), allowing users to trade GOAT without the need for a centralized authority.

2) MiCA-compliant stablecoins are gaining majority of the market share in the euro-stablecoin sector

Since the implementation of certain provisions of the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulations in June, MiCA-compliant stablecoins like Circle’s EURC and Société Générale’s EURCV have taken over the euro-stablecoin market, according to a report from Kaiko Research. The report states that these stablecoins now account for a record 67% of the euro-stablecoin market. This change has been significantly influenced by Coinbase, which surpassed Binance in August as the top platform for trading euro-backed stablecoins. While Coinbase has embraced MiCA-compliant assets, Kaiko analysts noted that Binance has primarily been promoting non-compliant euro stablecoins to non-European users through its zero-fee model.

3) Stripe has purchased the stablecoin platform Bridge for $1.1 billion to expand crypto offerings

Payments company Stripe has acquired the stablecoin platform Bridge for $1.1 billion, as reported by TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington. This marks Stripe’s largest acquisition to date and the biggest acquisition in the crypto industry’s history. Bridge, which had raised $58 million from investors and was previously valued at $200 million, provides software that enables businesses to accept payments in stablecoins, reflecting Stripe’s commitment to expanding its crypto initiatives. The $1.1 billion acquisition price is a significant increase from Bridge’s earlier valuation of $200 million, following a $40 million Series A round, as noted by Forbes. This strategic move not only enhances Stripe’s capabilities but also positions it as a leading player in the rapidly evolving digital payment landscape.

2. Key Venture Deals

1) Azra Games raises $42M led by Pantera Capital to develop 4th generation mobile RPGs

Azra Games has secured $42.7 million in a Series A funding round, led by Pantera Capital, with contributions from a16z Crypto, a16z Games, and NFX. The company aims to bring console-quality gaming experiences to mobile devices, which CEO and founder Mark Otero describes as the “4th generation of mobile RPGs.” This new generation aims to compete with PC and console RPGs, offering features like open worlds, over-the-shoulder camera views, real-time combat, and extensive PvE campaigns. This represents a major shift in the mobile gaming landscape. The recent funding will also help expand Azra Labs, a specialized R&D team focused on leveraging artificial intelligence to enhance large-scale content creation.

2) zkPass has secured $12.5M in Series A funding to advance its zkTLS Oracle Protocol

zkPass has successfully completed its $12.5 million Series A funding round, with participation from Gate Ventures, dao5, CE Innovation Capital, Animoca Brands, L2IV, and UOB Venture Management. The platform now offers over 200 schemas from more than 70 verified web data sources. With zkTLS, users can generate Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs) of private data directly in their browsers in just one second, ensuring privacy and integrity. This protocol enables users to selectively prove various data types — such as legal identities, financial records, and healthcare information — while keeping sensitive personal information confidential and verifiable both on-chain and off-chain. As of October 2024, over 2 million zk attestations have been created across various sectors, including financial institutions, e-commerce, social media, and online education.

3) Pell Network has raised $3M in funding to develop its Omnichain DVS network

Pell Network, an Omnichain Decentralized Validation Services (DVS) network, has successfully raised $3 million in pre-seed funding, as announced on October 16, 2024. This funding round was co-led by Paper Ventures, Halo Capital, and Mirana Ventures. Pell Network aims to create a decentralized validation services marketplace driven by cryptoeconomics, utilizing the restaking mechanism of Liquid Staking Tokens (LST). The platform has made significant progress, deploying across 20 chains, including BNB Smart Chain, Core, Babylon, Mantle, and Ethereum. It has achieved over $300 million in Total Value Locked (TVL) and has attracted more than 430,000 stakers within its Omnichain Restaking Network.

The number of deals closed in the previous week was 20, with Infra leading the way with 9 deals, representing 53% of the total number of deals. The sectors with the least number of deals is GameFi and DeFi with 1 deal closed each, representing approximately 6% of the total deals respectively last week.

The total amount of funding raised in the previous week was $379.9m, with the Infra sector leading the way with $265.2m, representing 70% of overall financing. The sector with the least funding in the previous week was DeFi with a $16.2m raise, representing approximately 4% of overall financing respectively last week.

Total weekly fundraising rose to $379.9m for the third week of October, an increase of 550% compared to the week prior. Weekly fundraising in the previous week was up approximately 215% 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.

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