Architect Financial Technologies Raises $35 Million

On December 24th, Brian Hassett, Chair of the U.S. National Economic Council, told CNBC in an interview that U.S. economic figures show AI-driven productivity is thriving. He noted that if GDP growth stays around 4%, monthly job gains would rebound to 100,000–150,000. The GDP data, he added, is a great Christmas gift to the American people.

On December 24th, Bitcoin topped $88,000 per HTX market data, with its 24-hour price decline narrowing to 1.88%.

Dec. 23: The European Central Bank (ECB) has secured support from the European Council to propose capping digital euro holdings. Regulators worry a central bank digital currency (CBDC) could siphon funds from traditional banks, so they’re considering limits on how much digital euro individuals can hold—ensuring it’s used only for payments. Critics say the restrictions would shield traditional banks from competition and could limit the digital euro’s use cases.

December 23: U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen backs rethinking the Federal Reserve’s 2% inflation target. She noted discussions could focus on adjusting the target to a range of 1.5%-2.5% or 1%-3%.

On December 23, The Washington Post published an article headlined “Fed under Trump Leadership Maintains Independence Strategy,” noting that 12 regional Federal Reserve Bank presidents held a closed-door meeting in Philadelphia in spring 2025 to discuss a highly sensitive issue: whether to reduce the Fed’s staff by roughly 10% in response to the Trump administration’s federal government downsizing push. Some regional Fed presidents pushed back against the proposal, arguing it could undermine the central bank’s operational capacity. However, the discussion’s outcome was a decision by Fed senior leadership to partially comply with some of the administration’s requests—aimed at easing political pressure—to better safeguard the Fed’s independence in core decision-making and avoid direct confrontation. In May 2025, Fed Chair Jerome Powell sent an internal memo to staff announcing a roughly 10% workforce reduction over the next several years (including by the end of 2027), slashing the

December 23: Per LookOnChain data, Fasanara Capital has purchased 6,569 ETH (valued at $19.72M) over the past two days, deposited the tokens onto the Morpho platform, and simultaneously borrowed 13M USDC to acquire additional ETH.