Research

This report provides a systematic review and analysis of the development of liquid staking (LSD) protocols. Since 2020, liquid staking protocols have risen rapidly, with total value locked (TVL) surpassing USD 85 billion, becoming an important bridge between PoS and DeFi. By comparing mainstream protocols such as Lido, Jito, and Rocket Pool, the report highlights the characteristics and competitive dynamics of different models: Lido, leveraging its first-mover advantage and economies of scale, remains the leader in Ethereum liquid staking; Jito has rapidly expanded within the Solana ecosystem by distributing MEV revenue; Rocket Pool, through decentralization and low entry thresholds, has encouraged participation from smaller node operators. With relatively low risk and stable yield characteristics, liquid staking has attracted massive user and capital inflows, and has further given rise to innovative products represented by Pendle, enhancing both capital efficiency and financial diversity.

From September 9 to September 22, 2025, both BTC and ETH remained in a high-level consolidation phase, with divergences emerging between price structure and volatility performance, indicating overall weak short-term momentum. On the derivatives side, BTC open interest retreated significantly from recent highs, while ETH held relatively steady, suggesting that leveraged positions have not yet fully exited the market. On September 22, long liquidation volume surged to over $1.6 billion, highlighting mounting pressure at market highs and intensifying bearish sentiment due to cascading stop-losses by long positions. In terms of quantitative strategies, a mean-reversion strategy based on Bollinger Bands delivered strong performance on ADA, achieving an annualized return of over 60%, showcasing solid potential for short-term trading.

Gate Research Daily Report: On Sep 26, BTC fell below $109K and ETH slipped under $3,900 as markets came under pressure; XPL surged 178% on Plasma mainnet launch; SQD and SKX gained 65% and 25% on tech integration and ecosystem growth; new tariffs and regulatory probes fueled risk-off sentiment, wiping over 4.5% from crypto market cap.

Gate Research Weekly Report: This week, BTC declined by 1.99% and ETH dropped by 7.69%, while some DeFi sectors saw gains against the trend. The crypto market experienced its largest liquidation event of the year, with $1.8 billion wiped out. Gate launched its Gate Layer L2 network, marking a full-scale upgrade to the GT ecosystem and its deflationary mechanism. The Ethereum Fusaka upgrade focuses on data availability and security, with PeerDAS ushering in a new era of Layer 1 scalability. Meanwhile, SUI Group revealed a major SUI token holding and stock buyback, demonstrating strong capital reserves and market confidence.

This report summarizes Web3 industry funding in August 2025. A total of 112 deals were completed, with total funding reaching $2.05 billion, marking a clear decline from previous periods. CeFi once again demonstrated strong capital absorption, infrastructure and mid-sized growth projects received steady support, while application-layer projects faced accelerated elimination. With the emerging trend of “on-chain reserve assetization” and institutional capital increasingly concentrated in Series B and strategic rounds, the Web3 industry is entering a more stable, diversified, and sustainable growth stage. The report also highlights major funding cases, including SuperGaming, Multipli, BOB, HoneyCoin, and Perle.

Gate Research Daily Report: On September 23, BTC fell below $112,000 before consolidating, while ETH failed to hold above the $4,200 level. AIC surged over 70% in 24 hours driven by its buyback-and-burn program and AI+VR narrative, 0G jumped more than 50% on mainnet launch and strong financing support, and BLUE gained over 30% on short-term liquidity improvements. The market saw more than $1.7 billion in liquidations in the past 24 hours, while Metaplanet purchased $632 million worth of Bitcoin, becoming the fifth-largest publicly listed corporate holder. Meanwhile, gold hit a new record high of $3,721 as capital partially rotated from Bitcoin into precious metals.

Gate Research Daily Report: On September 22, BTC faced resistance near $117,900 and continued to decline, currently trading around $114,300 with a brief dip to $114,250; ETH has been under pressure above $4,460 and continued downward, breaking below $4,300 to reach a short-term low of $4,289. StandX TVL exceeded $60 million, setting a new all-time high; 0G Labs mainnet Aristotle officially launched; Story ecosystem IPRWA project Aria introduced the institutional-grade on-chain IP investment platform, Aria PRIME.

In August, the crypto market showed strong performance, driven by continued ETF inflows and rising on-chain activity. ETH emerged as the best-performing major token of the month, with a gain of over 18%. In contrast, Bitcoin followed a “rise-then-fall” pattern—briefly surpassing $124,500 mid-month before retreating due to growing macroeconomic uncertainty. Among public blockchains, Solana led with over 29 billion monthly transactions, while Ethereum recorded 51.77 million on-chain transactions, marking a new four-year high for the second consecutive month.

This report highlights that as of August 2025, the global stablecoin market capitalization has reached $280 billion, with annual on-chain settlement volumes surpassing $30 trillion. Stablecoins are evolving from mere crypto trading instruments into global financial infrastructure. This explosive growth is driven by regulatory implementation and the entry of major enterprises. The enactment of the GENIUS Act, the Stablecoin Bill, and the MiCA Regulation mark the beginning of a “compliance grand era” for stablecoins. Their model has advanced into a “Peg + Yield + Application” triad, expanding across payments, yield generation, and real-world applications. At the same time, competition has shifted from “token battles” to “infrastructure battles,” with players such as Tether, Circle, Stripe, and Alchemy Pay building proprietary blockchains to capture dominance in payments and settlements.

From September 2 to September 15, 2025, the crypto market continued its sector rotation pattern, with BTC and ETH testing key resistance levels at 117,400 and 4,950 USDT, respectively. MYX and CONSCIOUS each surged over 900%, while OPENX and ATH also posted gains above 90%, highlighting strong volume-price correlation and a clear capital shift toward mid- and small-cap narrative-driven tokens. Recently, a series of airdrop campaigns have been launched across trending sectors such as AI, DePIN, and SocialFi. This article outlines key participation methods to help users capture potential upside and airdrop opportunities during the rebound.

Gate Research Daily Report: On September 19, the crypto market saw BTC and ETH trading in a tight range with cautious optimism and a neutral Fear & Greed Index. MetaMask token launch expectations accelerate, Plasma blockchain plans TGE on September 25, and NBA star Tristan Thompson introduces a player tokenization platform. Tokens like RUNWAGO, DUCK, and APX show strong short-term activity, with macro and project updates analyzed in detail.

Gate Research Weekly Report: This week, the crypto market remained in a moderately bullish consolidation, with both BTC and ETH posting modest gains. DeFi Development added another 60,000 SOL to its holdings, bringing its total to over 2 million SOL. Benefiting from multiple treasury initiatives, Solana has risen more than 10% over the past 7 days. The Altcoin Season Index climbed to 73, indicating a significant uptick in altcoin market momentum. Meanwhile, Forward Industries completed a $1.65 billion funding round to establish a SOL-centric treasury reserve strategy.

Gate Research Daily Report: On Sept 17, BTC hit $116,956 before consolidating at $111,277 with bullish bias; ETH traded at $4,326 in a weak range; altcoins rose slightly with Fear & Greed at 54. Hot tokens led by GAI surging 119.35%, UNA up 43.40%, and F up 32.15% on strong inflows. On the macro side, US stocks slipped, gold settled at $3,682/oz. Industry highlights: Nothing raised $200M at $1.3B valuation, Sui joins Google Agentic Payments Protocol, and Movement upgraded to a standalone Layer1 with Move 2.0.

Gate Research Daily Report: On September 16, BTC retreated after a brief surge and is now fluctuating around $115,000; ETH showed relative weakness today, quickly pulling back after testing $4,660. Token U jumped about 40.10% in the past 24 hours; Shibarium suffered a hacker attack, causing a sharp drop across the memecoin sector; PayPal will enable peer-to-peer crypto payments, allowing direct transfers of BTC, ETH, and more; Gate has listed Boundless (ZKC) spot trading and launched its Launchpool.

Gate Research Daily Report: On September 15, BTC traded mostly within the range of $115,000 to $116,600; ETH formed a local high around $4,766 before facing resistance and retracing to approximately $4,620. Pump.fun’s market share on Solana’s token issuance platforms rose to 90.4%; Gate GUSD’s on-chain supply exceeded 100 million, with three major mining pools running simultaneously; and Polkadot DAO passed a proposal to set the total DOT supply cap at 2.1 billion.