Happy Monday. The biggest crypto hack of all-time happened, AI concerns hit the stock market, inflation remained high, and Kalshi is doubling its valuation. Let’s dive in!
🎤 Listen: To the latest episode of Smart Humans, where Slava Rubin talks to Franklin Templeton's Head of Innovation Sandy Kaul about the future of tokenization.
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📈 WEEKLY MARKETS
🪙 BINANCE HACK
Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, was the victim of the biggest crypto theft in history on Friday, losing upwards of $6 billion to hackers sponsored by North Korea. Around $3 billion of the assets have been frozen on-chain, but the hackers have gotten away with at least $2.4 billion worth of crypto. The exchange said that its client funds are safe and would cover all losses, but since it began resuming withdrawals there has been an exodus of more than $3 billion in assets. The crypto market reacted negatively, losing around 4% of its total market cap in the aftermath.
➨ TAKEAWAY: The heist is around four times larger than any previous one, and again underscores one of the big concerns people have when dealing with crypto. Even though customers are going to be made whole, massive hacks like this decrease mainstream confidence in the asset class. If the biggest exchange in the world cannot protect its resources, how safe is the industry as a whole? Given the overall rough year for crypto, more bad PR is not what the market needs.
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🎤 PODCAST
"There's going to be a growing interest in having a crypto allocation in everyone's portfolios." - Sandy Kaul
In the newest episode of Smart Humans, Slava Rubin talks with Franklin Templeton's Head of Innovation Sandy Kaul about innovations in digital assets and the future of tokenization.
📰 NOTABLE NEWS
📉 Equities fall on AI concerns: Stocks had a rough Friday, with the Nasdaq 100 falling 3.4% into correction territory, and the S&P 500 falling by 1.8%. This pullback came as investors are clearly concerned about massive AI capex costs, with Amazon and Alphabet seeing significant drops, and chipmakers like Intel and AMD also struggling.
📊 PCE inflation report: The Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index, the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation, rose 0.5% monthly and 3.6% year-over-year in September, in line with expectations, but still well above the Fed’s target. Core PCE, which excludes food and energy costs, was up 0.3% monthly and 3.1% year-over-year.
🎰 Kalshi finalizes raise: The prediction market platform raised $1 billion at a $40 billion valuation, almost double its $22 billion valuation from May and rival Polymarket’s $21 billion valuation from September. The company announced a annual revenue run rate of $4 billion, and gross margins nearing 90%.
💵 SEC overhauling crowdfunding rules: SEC Chair Paul Atkins announced that the agency is planning to change its regulations on crowdfunding to make it easier for small businesses to raise money and for investors to get access to offerings.
🚀 Cyera funding round: The cybersecurity startup is reportedly discussing a new fundraising round at a $20 billion valuation, which would be nearly double its most recent valuation from June.
🏡 Active inventory grows: Even as mortgage rates have come down slightly, buyers are not returning to the market, with active housing inventory now up 8% year-over-year. New listings have actually decreased, meaning current listings are lingering on the market longer.
📆 LOOKING FORWARD
Tuesday: Election day in the U.S. - make sure to vote!
Wednesday: ADP private employment report released.
Friday: U.S. jobs report for October released.
Saturday: Goldin’s Fall Game-Used Memorabilia auction, featuring a pair of six-figure LeBron James jerseys.
Sunday: Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights; Gooding Christie’s Geneva auction, featuring at least five Ferraris expected to fetch seven-figure sums.
