Markets have experienced a robust bounce as the odds of a December interest rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve have swung decisively above 80%, driving a surge in major asset classes including Bitcoin, equities, and gold. The revived optimism among investors has marked the start of renewed momentum in both traditional and crypto markets, signaling a potential shift in sentiment after weeks of caution and volatility.
Interest Rate Speculation Fuels Rally in Major Markets
On Monday, the financial markets responded proactively to the increased probability of a December Federal Reserve rate cut. Bitcoin (BTC) saw its price increase by as much as 2.73% during the day, briefly breaching the $89,000 level before settling at $88,200, representing a 1.72% gain for the day. Traditional equities also joined the rally, with the Nasdaq 100 leading the charge by rising 2.22%—its strongest daily performance since mid-May. The S&P 500 added 1.20%, reaching its best session in six weeks.
Gold was another standout, climbing 1.75% to close at its highest level since November 14, even outpacing Bitcoin’s gains for the day. This surge in gold further underscores the breadth of the market’s response to rate cut expectations, as investors seek both traditional and digital havens in anticipation of looser monetary policy.
Market Focus Turns to Federal Reserve Signals
The recent upward swing in risk assets and safe havens alike follows dovish comments by Fed Governor Waller, who stated that ongoing labor market weakness could justify a 25 basis point reduction in rates as soon as December. These remarks echoed across betting platforms and market monitoring tools, with the CME FedWatch Tool and prediction markets alike indicating over an 80% likelihood of a rate cut at the next policy meeting.
Despite these strong signals, market participants remain wary, given that odds have flipped back and forth between a cut and no change over the past two weeks. This volatility highlights the challenges of forecasting monetary policy amid an opaque economic outlook, especially after the longest U.S. government shutdown on record curtailed the flow of reliable data.
Crypto Indices Stage Comeback, Risk Appetite Increases
With sentiment buoyed by expectations for easier monetary conditions, crypto indices have rallied, outperforming even Bitcoin in some respects. The Crypto Miners index, in particular, surged by 8.4%, driven by a vote of confidence from JP Morgan in CleanSpark (CLSK), whose shares jumped more than 10% following the bank’s raised guidance.
Another notable winner was the No Revenue index, which climbed 7.9%. As less established, high-risk digital assets outperformed their blue-chip peers, some analysts interpret this as an early sign of increasing risk appetite in the crypto sector as macroeconomic concerns ease—potentially pointing to the start of a bullish new phase for digital assets.
Monad Mainnet Launch and MON Token Debut: Expanding the Blockchain Horizon
After nearly three years in development, Monad has officially launched its mainnet, marking a significant milestone for the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible blockchain. Monad’s team initially raised funds back in January 2023 and has since been building a unique infrastructure stack. The foundational aspects of Monad’s approach include a new consensus algorithm, parallel transaction execution, and a custom data storage solution—all aimed at delivering over 10,000 transactions per second, sub-second block times, and 800ms deterministic finality. If these ambitious technical goals hold up in production, Monad could set a new bar for EVM compatibilities and performance.
However, the road ahead for Monad is not without its challenges. Its delayed entry means the network must work hard to catch up with well-established blockchains like Solana and layer-2 solutions such as Base. Ecosystem activity, decentralized exchange (DEX) volumes, and the total value locked (TVL) in applications on Monad currently lag behind these competing platforms.
Early Monad Apps: Kuru and Neverland Lead the Way
Examining Monad’s initial ecosystem reveals a familiar landscape, with many top applications being well-established EVM projects. Uniswap v4 leads the pack with $25 million in TVL. Among true Monad-native projects, Kuru and Neverland stand out.
Kuru is a DEX that employs a hybrid order book-automated market maker (AMM) model, while also functioning as a DEX aggregator. Leveraging Monad’s high throughput and low fees, Kuru aims to serve both professional market makers and users seeking to provide passive liquidity for less popular assets. The platform recently completed a $2 million seed round led by Electric Capital, positioning itself for future growth given Monad’s performance potential.
Neverland, meanwhile, is a lending protocol built on the robust architecture of Aave v3. With about $1 million in deposits and $420,000 in loans according to DeFi Llama, Neverland provides basic lending and borrowing opportunities. However, as with many Monad applications to date, the offering is somewhat conventional, and the industry will be watching to see if the platform can incubate more innovative projects over time.
MON Token Listings Signal a New Era for On-Chain Trading
While Monad’s mainnet debut was significant, it was arguably overshadowed by the day-one listing of its MON token on both Solana and the decentralized perpetuals exchange Hyperliquid. Notably, Solana enabled trading of the MON asset with deep liquidity at launch—an unprecedented move for a non-native asset on the network.
This capability is made possible by the combination of programmable AMMs and fortified cross-chain bridge infrastructure, allowing Solana to efficiently support trading of virtually any asset. Over the first 24 hours, Solana recorded over $60 million in MON trading volume, surpassing Hyperliquid’s $37 million and ranking Solana among the top five trading venues globally for MON, behind only Upbit, Coinbase, Bybit, and Bithumb.
These developments illustrate that decentralized, on-chain venues are increasingly able to compete with, and even outpace, centralized exchanges in terms of liquidity and market access. As more assets bridge into decentralized liquidity pools and trading becomes frictionless across chains, the landscape of digital asset trading is poised for dramatic transformation in the years to come.
Galaxy Digital: A Multi-Faceted Bet on Crypto and AI Infrastructure
As the tide rises for digital assets, Galaxy Digital Holdings (GLXY) has emerged as a compelling vehicle for investors seeking institutional exposure to both the expansion of crypto markets and the parallel growth in AI compute infrastructure. Galaxy’s business strategy has evolved considerably, shifting from a perception as a pure trading operation to a diversified model featuring asset management, market-making, and infrastructure solutions.
Recent financial results highlight the platform’s earnings potential: in the latest quarter, Galaxy posted $505 million in net income on $3.2 billion in equity. Quarterly earnings were driven by $250 million in EBITDA from digital assets and another $376 million from treasury and corporate activities, with data center contributions still negligible but anticipated to grow.
Dissecting Galaxy’s Three Core Segments
- Digital Assets (40% of equity): Galaxy’s largest segment encompasses Global Markets and Asset Management & Infrastructure Solutions. The Global Markets division manages a comprehensive trading desk, offering spot, derivative, and lending products together with M&A and capital markets advisory. Fee-based income from investment funds, staking, custody, and tailored crypto services round out this segment, ensuring both market-driven and recurring revenues.
- Treasury and Corporate (35% of equity): This branch oversees Galaxy’s proprietary digital asset and equity portfolios. Profits here are closely tied to marked-to-market gains on these holdings, providing leveraged exposure to broad crypto market rallies like those seen in recent months.
- Data Centers (25% of equity): Primarily represented by the Helios project in Texas, this segment is currently pre-revenue but is set to generate contracted rent from 2026 onward, with CoreWeave as an anchor tenant. The project targets an initial 133 MW of IT capacity by 2026, expanding to over 500 MW by 2028, positioning Galaxy at the intersection of crypto mining and the burgeoning demand for AI data processing infrastructure.
GalaxyOne: Bridging Retail and Institutional Crypto Flows
Beyond its institutional focus, Galaxy is also staking a claim in the retail market through GalaxyOne, its U.S.-based consumer platform. The app offers high-yield cash accounts, premium yield notes, and straightforward trading in cryptocurrencies and U.S. equities. By capturing retail flows directly, GalaxyOne could help the company build a stable, recurring revenue base from client balances while serving as a funnel for broader engagement with Galaxy’s asset management and staking products.
Innovation in Financial Markets: On-Chain Tokenization of Securities
In a pioneering move, Galaxy is issuing its Class A common shares as tokenized securities on Solana, in partnership with Superstate. This initiative is about more than just efficiency or cost-saving; it serves as a test case for bringing traditional securities onto blockchain rails in a fully regulated, compliant manner. While the near-term impact on earnings is expected to be minimal, the effort positions Galaxy as a leader in the adoption and advocacy of on-chain capital markets—potentially opening the door for broader tokenization initiatives by issuers, funds, and banks.
Risk Factors and Investment Considerations
Despite its attractive positioning, Galaxy Digital remains a high-beta investment, offering significant leverage to digital asset and equity market cycles. The company faces regulatory uncertainties, especially in the evolving political landscape around digital assets. Furthermore, the success of the Helios data center project and the scaling of GalaxyOne in a competitive market represent meaningful execution risks.
Nevertheless, with its diversified business model, strong balance sheet, and strategic initiatives in both crypto infrastructure and tokenized securities, Galaxy Digital stands as one of the most attractive publicly-listed proxies for investors betting on the continued institutionalization and expansion of digital asset markets—and the parallel rise of AI-driven data infrastructure.
Conclusion: A Market Poised for Transformation
As macroeconomic winds shift and technology platforms like Monad and Galaxy Digital push the boundaries of what’s possible, both the blockchain and traditional finance landscapes are evolving rapidly. The confluence of regulatory clarity, technical innovation, and market access promises to create new opportunities for investors and developers alike. Whether it’s the advent of high-speed, EVM-compatible blockchains, the proliferation of decentralized trading venues, or the merging of crypto and AI infrastructure, the final months of 2025 are shaping up to be a pivotal period for digital asset markets worldwide.
