Rate Cut Rally & Meta Glasses

The Fed has finally delivered on those rate cuts we’ve all been waiting for, just in time for View from the Arch’s 100th edition. Can you believe you’ve been reading us for 100 weeks?

This Week in Crypto

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The Fed delivered that sweet 25bps rate cut everyone was waiting for, and crypto responded just like you’d expect.

• Bitcoin’s trading around $116K, while Ethereum pushed above $4,500. 

• However, Powell’s more hawkish-than-expected tone about future cuts put a slight damper on the party today, with Bitcoin price dropping slightly this morning.

BNB just made its own history by smashing through the $1,000 barrier for the first time ever hitting $1,004.14 on September 18th. 

• The rally got extra juice from reports that Binance is close to settling with the DOJ, potentially ending the court-appointed monitor situation. 

• Meanwhile, institutional money is pouring in with over 50 Digital Asset Treasury firms seeking regulated BNB exposure.

Bitcoin ETFs were on fire this week leading up to the Fed meeting, pulling in $260M on September 15th for their sixth consecutive day of inflows, totaling over $2.6B. 

• Ethereum ETFs weren’t left behind either, recording $359.73M in daily inflows and marking five straight days of gains. 

• After the Fed delivered its rate cut but signaled fewer future cuts than expected, Bitcoin ETFs saw their first outflows in over a week at $51.28M. 

DeFi also hit a major milestone.

• Total value locked across DeFi protocols hit $170B on Thursday, officially erasing all the losses from the Terra/LUNA collapse and subsequent bear market.

• DeFi lending specifically is having a moment, with TVL reaching a record $130 billion and becoming the largest DeFi sector.

This Week in TradFi

Do you even need to guess what we’ll be talking about this week?

• The Fed has delivered its first rate cut since December, lowering its policy rate by 25bps to a range of 4%-4.25%.

• The rate cut is primarily driven by the risk of rising unemployment, and the Fed has indicated more cuts may follow to halt a slide in the labor market. 

• Powell said he thinks the recent pace of job creation is running below the break-even rate needed to keep the unemployment rate constant. And any increase in layoffs could easily feed into higher unemployment. 

• The Fed’s projections still put inflation ending this year at 3%, well above the central bank’s 2% target, while its projection for economic growth was slightly higher at 1.6% vs. 1.4%. 

Meanwhile, on the international front:

• London stocks were set to end the week marginally lower today, as investors assessed central bank decisions.

  • FTSE 100 was flat this morning but headed for a marginal weekly decline over lingering inflation concerns.

  • The Bank of England’s widely expected pause on Thursday followed its quarter-point cut in August, as it navigates sticky inflation and an uncertain growth and jobs outlook.

• Meanwhile, European shares were higher today and looked to end the week with small gains. 

  • STOXX 600 was up 0.3% as of this morning.

• German producer prices fell more than expected in August, decreasing by 2.2% YoY.

• Bank Indonesia surprised economists with a rate cut on Wednesday, fueled by pressure from the Indonesian President to lift growth to 8%, up from its current 5% pace.

• Japan’s core consumer prices rose 2.7% in the year to August, staying above the central bank’s goal of 2% but marking the slowest pace in nine months.

• And gold heads for its fifth weekly gain, driven by the Fed’s rate cut. 

  • Spot gold was up 0.1% this morning, and U.S. gold futures were up 0.1%.

This Week in Tech

Nvidia has agreed to buy a $5B stake in Intel as part of a broader deal to develop “multiple generations” of data center and PC products.

• Nvidia will acquire the Intel stock for $23.28/share, a slight discount vs. the company’s previous trading price. 

• According to Reuters, the deal makes Nvidia one of Intel’s largest shareholders, owning about 4% of the company. 

• In response to the deal, Intel shares were up as much as 30% in early trading on Thursday morning. 

• That’s a cool stablecoin play, huh?

On Wednesday, Meta unveiled a new pair of Ray-Ban branded smart glasses, with built-in display for apps, alerts, and directions on the right lens. 

• The smart glasses are controlled by a wristband that picks up on subtle hand gestures. 

• The product will be officially out September 30, costing $799. 

• Unlike past Meta Ray-Bans, the new version allows people to use the glasses without speaking aloud. 

• Meta’s Reality Labs have posted $70 billion in losses since 2020, so these glasses really need to deliver.

As usual, below are some fundraising announcements, M&A, and tech personnel changes that caught our eye:

• Sales tax compliance startup Numeral has raised a $35M Series B, with a valuation of $350M. 

• Atlassian has acquired developer productivity platform DX for $1B in cash.

• AI chip startup Groq has raised $750M at a valuation of $6.9B. 

• Jack Altman raised a new $275M early-stage fund for his firm Alt Capital. 

Arch is building a next-gen wealth management platform for individuals holding Alternative Assets. Our flagship product is the crypto-backed loan, which allows you to securely and affordably borrow against your crypto.

Disclaimer: None of the above is financial advice, seriously.