Gate VenturesTL;DRThe Fed made a 50 bps interest rate cut, which surprised macroeconomists but was in line with the bond market. The S&P 500 hit a nearly record high after the cut but closed negatively, as the market was still concerned about the economy’s outlook.The Fed is confident in inflation and open to lowering interest rates if the data worsens. We are opting for at least a quarter-point to a half-point rate cut for the two meetings remaining this year.$Aleo debuted with a market cap of $4.5 billion, ranking 20th on CoinMarketCap. $SEI shows strong upward momentum, with potential beyond its current consolidation phase. Meanwhile, the market cap of stablecoins has reached an all-time high, signaling a positive market outlook.The TON blockchain experienced a remarkable increase of 3,435% in daily active addresses throughout 2024. Drift raises $25M to develop a ‘SuperApp’ for decentralized finance (DeFi) trading. Last week, 20 deals raised $149.5M, with Infrastructure deals leading at $96.5M total raised. Overall deal funding rose 35.9% compared to the previous week.Macro OverviewFed made a jumbo cut to US interest rate: The Federal Reserve made a bold move on Wednesday by cutting its benchmark interest rate by 0.5%, signaling the beginning of a policy shift to strengthen the U.S. labor market. The Fed’s only instance of starting a rate-cutting cycle within 0.5% of a record high occurred in July 1995. It exceeded the expectations of many macro analysts but was largely in line with the forecasts of the futures market. The benchmark S&P 500 climbed 1.7% to close at its first record high since July but closed negatively, showing that Powell failed to sell investors that the Fed is all in on a growth-friendly policy pivot. And projections released that a narrow majority of Fed officials favored lowering the interest rate by an additional half-point.China surprised the market on Friday by keeping the five-year loan prime rate, a key benchmark for mortgage rates, steady at 3.85%. This decision came despite growing pressure to stimulate the struggling property sector and boost the economy. Japan’s Nikkei share index climbed over 2%, driven by export-focused stocks, as the yen weakened against the US dollar.DXYThe US dollar fell to a 14-month low as the Fed cut the interest rate by half a point. Conflicting signals from a large rate cut and the ongoing narrative of a soft landing, supported by a still resilient economy, are keeping the dollar steady for now.Polymarket: Fed Interest Rates: September 2024Projections of the two-day meeting showed that 10 of 19 officials favored lowering an additional 50 bps by the end of the year, while seven favored lowering an additional 25 bps by the end of the year. As Powell reiterated that the economy is heading into a soft landing, now the odds for a further 25 bps cut in November are taking the lead.Fed: Total AssetsThe total assets on the Fed’s balance decreased slightly by $6b. Following the interest rate cut, the Fed is on a controlled pace for shrinking down the balance sheet.GoldGold price rallied pass $2,600 to $2,625, breaking its all-time high again, after the Fed made a jumbo rate cut by 50 bps. And according to projections by the Fed officials, an additional 25 to 50 bps is in sight by the end of the year. As long as markets expect it to happen in December, the upswing in Gold should continue.Crypto Markets Overview1. Main AssetsBTC PriceETH PriceThe BTC and ETH price are separately around $64,000 and $2650 this Monday. BTC and ETH rose by 10% and 17%, respectively, and their upward trend is expected to continue this week, which is important for short-term traders. Last week’s rise was mainly driven by macro news stimulation; the Federal Reserve announced a 50bp rate cut, indicating that the Fed currently shifts its target from inflation to unemployment as the main adjustment goal.ETH/BTCAfter hitting a new low for this cycle last week, the ETH/BTC exchange rate has significantly rebounded, stimulated by macro interest rate cut news. We expect this rebound to be sustained along with the continued rise in the crypto market this week.2. Total Market CapCrypto Total MarketcapCrypto Total Marketcap Excluding BTC and ETHThe total market cap of total crypto as of this Monday is around $2.2 trillion, with the market value excluding BTC and ETH being $608.4.0 billion, a week-on-week increase of 10% and 8.8%. Overall, the rebound of altcoins is not as strong as that of BTC and ETH.3. Stablecoin FlowsTotal Stablecoins’ Marketcap, source: Defillama and Gate Ventures, as of 16th September 2024Major Stablecoins’ Marketcap, source: Defillama and Gate Ventures, as of 23rd September 2024Last week, the total market value of stablecoins was $172.3 billion, setting a new high for this cycle. Among them, USDT’s market value was close to $120 billion and USDC’s was $35.6 billion. The growth of stablecoins provides potential upward momentum for cryptocurrencies, so we remain optimistic about the long-term outlook.4. Top 30 Crypto Assets PerformanceSource: Coingecko and Gate Ventures, as of 23rd September 2024Last week, almost all of the top 30 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization recorded gains, with TAO, SUI, and APT each rising more than 40%. After surpassing APT in market capitalization last week, SUI continued to maintain its strong upward trend.During the same period, SEI also experienced consolidation and sideways trading. It currently has strong upward momentum and potential, making it worth readers’ attention.5. Spotlight TokenThe Aleo token was listed on CEX last week. It’s $8 of its start price and now its 3.2 dollars whose market cap is around 4.6billion ranked 20th in Coinmarketcap surpassing the Sui. According to the Aleo website, the emission rate will decrease from 13.5% in year one to 1.6% in year ten which would increase the circulating supply of tokens by approximately 75% (from 1.5B to over 2.6B) in ten years.In my view, I think it’s too high of the Market Cap now and it would go down in the middle term like the Atheir Token. That’s why few cex lists $ALEO.The Key Crypto Highlights1. Highlights1) The TON blockchain experienced a remarkable increase of 3,435% in daily active addresses throughout 2024In 2024, the Open Network (TON) blockchain has seen substantial growth across key metrics. Daily average trading volume on its decentralized exchanges increased from just over $2 million to $17.2 million in September, a 760% rise year-to-date. Daily active addresses surged from 26,274 in January to 902,737 by September, representing a 3,435% growth. Daily transactions grew twelvefold, reaching 2,823,801. Additionally, the total value locked (TVL) rose eightfold to $741.3 million. This surge in activity has also boosted transaction fee revenue, with users spending around $75,000 daily, contributing about $37,500 to blockchain validators.2) Securitize partners with Wormhole to enhance cross-chain tokenization for institutional assetsSecuritize has teamed up with the Wormhole Foundation to enable cross-chain interoperability for all assets tokenized on its platform. This partnership designates Wormhole as the official blockchain interoperability provider for both current and future tokenized assets from Securitize, representing a major advancement in the tokenization and interoperability of digital assets. This collaboration allows Securitize to link its tokens to 32 blockchains supported by Wormhole’s infrastructure, enhancing its cross-chain capabilities. As a tokenization infrastructure provider for institutions like BlackRock and Hamilton Lane, Securitize aims to promote institutional adoption and bridge traditional and decentralized financial systems, enabling asset issuers to transfer tokens smoothly across different blockchain ecosystems.3) Ethereum core developers have decided to divide the ‘Pectra’ upgrade into a multi-phase rolloutDuring the recent Consensus Layer Meeting on September 19, Ethereum developers decided to adopt a multi-phase approach for the highly anticipated ‘Pectra’ upgrade. This choice was made due to concerns about the complexities and risks of implementing the upgrade in a single release, which could lead to technical issues and bugs. The first phase of the Pectra upgrade is scheduled for early 2025 and will incorporate eight Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs), including EIP-7702, which aims to enhance the user experience for digital wallets. The second phase may feature updates to the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and introduce PeerDAS, a new capability designed to improve data availability sampling. PeerDAS is expected to be crucial in supporting Layer-2 blockchains that depend on Ethereum for greater scalability and functionality.2. Key Venture Deals1) Drift raises $25M to develop a ‘SuperApp’ for decentralized finance (DeFi) tradingDrift, a Solana-based decentralized finance (DeFi) platform, has secured $25 million in Series B funding to enhance its exchange. The funding round, led by Multicoin Capital, also saw contributions from Blockchain Capital, Folius Ventures, Maelstrom, and Primitive, as noted in a post on X. Drift announced on X that it aims to be the “first on-chain platform” to provide cross-collateral margin accounts across a suite of DeFi products, including perpetual derivatives, spot markets, borrowing and lending, and prediction markets. Unlike centralized exchanges, Drift operates without a single entity controlling users’ funds, and its protocol is governed by a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO).2) Hemi has secured $15M to introduce a modular blockchain, with the funding round led by Binance LabsHemi Labs, co-founded by Bitcoin developer Jeff Garzik, has raised $15 million to support its modular blockchain network. The funding round was led by Binance Labs, Breyer Capital, and Big Brain Holdings. Hemi operates as a single blockchain that serves as both a Bitcoin and Ethereum layer 2, aiming to merge the security of Bitcoin with the liquidity and programmability of Ethereum. Hemi Network combines elements from both the Bitcoin blockchain and the Ethereum network to create a “supernetwork” powered by the Hemi Virtual Machine (hVM), which incorporates a complete Bitcoin node within the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). This setup enables developers to utilize familiar tools for creating smart contracts that are compatible with both Bitcoin and Ethereum.3) Amnis Finance secures $2M Seed round to build the top liquid staking protocol on Aptos blockchainAmnis Finance, the top liquid staking protocol on the Aptos blockchain, has successfully raised $2 million in its inaugural fundraising round on September 2, 2024. The round was co-led by Borderless Capital and OKX Ventures, with participation from notable investors including Aptos Labs, Arkgrow Pte Ltd, Ambush Capital, Gate Ventures, Sky Vision Capital, Old Fashion Research, Chorus One Venture, Re7, and Flowdesk. This funding will help Amnis Finance enhance the integration of its innovative liquid staking solution within the Aptos DeFi ecosystem. The platform is dedicated to improving its services on Aptos while also expanding through strategic partnerships, driving innovation, and providing greater value to its expanding user base.The number of deals closed in the previous week was 20, with Infra leading the way with 12 deals, representing 60% of the total number of deals. The sector with the least deals is Data and GameFi with deals funded respectively, representing approximately 10% of the total deals last week.Weekly Venture Deal Summary, Source: Cryptorank and Gate Ventures, as of 23rd September 2024The total amount of funding raised in the previous week was $149.5m, with the Infra sector leading the way with $96.5, representing 64% 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 23rd September 2024Total weekly fundraising rose to $146.5m for the third week of September, an increase of 35.9% compared to the week prior. Weekly fundraising in the previous week was down approximately 28% 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.
