Finance

By analyzing 6,723 crypto funding rounds totaling $25 billion in 2025, this article reveals that venture capital is shifting from singular speculative narratives toward three parallel long-term tracks: prediction markets, stablecoins, and real-world assets (RWA), indicating a maturing path for the crypto industry.

The crypto market ended 2025 with negative returns, as BTC and ETH failed to hold their key year-start levels of $90,000 and $3,000, respectively. Within Gate’s private wealth quant funds, Stellar Core Smart-Invest (USDT) led with an 11.0% annualized return and a Sharpe ratio of 4.3, demonstrating strong risk-adjusted performance. Additionally, Quantum Leap (USDT), Interstellar Hedge (USDT), and Gravity Hedge (USDT) all achieved a 100% win rate for the year. The USDT strategy returned 1.6% in December and achieved a 7.5% full-year return, with overall drawdowns nearly at zero. In the short term, the probability of a Fed rate cut in January is low, and divergence over the pace of future cuts may further widen. In the medium to long term, deeper regulatory coordination and progress in crypto legislation could become a key institutional turning point for crypto assets entering the mainstream financial system.

As of January 15, Strategy's Bitcoin holdings exceeded 687,000 BTC, establishing it as the world's largest publicly listed company by Bitcoin reserves. This achievement secures its dominant position in the crypto asset sector, significantly outpacing other public companies like Tesla, Metaplanet, and MARA.

Gate Research Weekly Report: Bitcoin has reclaimed the $96,000 level, while Ethereum has broken through the $3,300 resistance and continues to consolidate at elevated levels. The Zcash Foundation announced that the SEC has concluded its multi-year investigation without taking enforcement action; meanwhile, Federal Reserve officials collectively defended policy independence while signaling a pause in rate cuts.As both Bitcoin and Ethereum broke higher, nearly $700 million in short positions were liquidated. Vitalik Buterin highlighted structural flaws in decentralized stablecoins, while renewed attention was drawn to Zcash-related developments and potential quantum threats. Metaplanet is now just one step away from resuming equity financing to purchase Bitcoin. ONDO, TRUMP, and ZRO are set to unlock approximately $778 million, $278 million, and $42.42 million worth of tokens, respectively, over the next seven days.

This article provides a comprehensive overview of the following key questions: What are token stocks? What types of token stocks are available? What opportunities and risks does this sector present?

This article offers a comprehensive overview of cryptocurrency staking concepts and mechanisms, explains Gate's staking and lending services, and covers essential risk management strategies.

Drawing on the historical parallel of Regulation Q in the 1970s and the rise of money market funds, which amassed $8 trillion, it is predicted that the $300 billion market capitalization of stablecoins will reshape the financial landscape, potentially replacing low-interest banks with high-yield institutions.

By 2026, the Fidelity Bitcoin Spot ETF (FBTC) has established itself as a primary investment for institutional and retail investors alike. Ranked as the world’s second-largest Bitcoin ETF by assets under management, FBTC distinguishes itself among SEC-approved offerings through its exclusive self-custody approach via Fidelity Digital Assets and a highly competitive 0.25% fee structure. This article examines FBTC’s performance over the past two years and highlights key differences compared to peer products.

The crypto industry is expected to see a wave of IPOs in 2026. This article examines the listing strategies and projected valuations of top crypto firms including Kraken, Consensys, Ledger, Bithumb, and security audit provider CertiK. It discusses how these companies capitalize on regulatory tailwinds, institutional investment, and a maturing market to move from private fundraising to public capital markets, and analyzes the associated risks and investment logic.

Stable is a dedicated Layer 1 blockchain co-developed by Bitfinex and Tether. Its core design utilizes USDT as the native Gas token, completely eliminating the pain point of users needing to hold volatile native tokens for transactions. The protocol not only supports the native execution of smart contracts on a stablecoin settlement layer but also introduces USDT0 assets based on the LayerZero OFT standard, enabling seamless, bridge-less cross-chain liquidity transfers. Through priority execution channels and a compliant architecture, Stable provides a transparent, secure digital dollar settlement layer with instant finality for both institutional and individual users.

Stable and Plasma are two high-performance Layer 1 blockchains within the Tether ecosystem focused on stablecoin settlement, representing different technical paths toward "stablecoin nativization." Deeply supported by Bitfinex and Tether, Stable’s core feature lies in utilizing USDT directly as the network's native Gas token, eliminating the friction of users needing to hold non-stablecoin assets for payments. Conversely, Plasma operates as an EVM-compatible Bitcoin sidechain, focusing on its "three-stage" consensus mechanism and private transaction modules to provide high-throughput underlying support for large-scale commercial payments and cross-border remittances.

Stable is an application-specific Layer 1 blockchain co-launched by Bitfinex and Tether. Its core operational mechanism involves the deep integration of USDT into the network’s base layer, serving directly as the native Gas token for transaction fees. By introducing USDT0 assets based on the LayerZero OFT standard, the protocol enables seamless cross-chain transfers across multiple major public chains and utilizes its proprietary StableBFT consensus algorithm to provide sub-second transaction finality. Furthermore, Stable is a pioneer in natively supporting the EIP-7702 protocol at the L1 level, granting traditional Externally Owned Accounts (EOAs) programmable smart contract capabilities and establishing a high-performance, ultra-low-friction stablecoin payment foundation.

The crypto market saw a broad sell-off, with BTC and ETH down 10% and 18% in January, respectively. Within Gate Private Wealth’s quantitative funds, the USDT strategy delivered a 6.7% return over the past year. The Interstellar Hedge (USDT) strategy stood out with a 5.0% monthly annualized return, while Quantum Leap (USDT) and Interstellar Hedge (USDT) have maintained a 100% monthly win rate since inception. The Top 30% portfolio achieved a 4.5% annualized return in January, significantly outperforming Bitcoin and U.S. Treasury yields. Overall, Walsh’s appointment does not imply a full shift toward monetary tightening, and the market consensus still points to two rate cuts this year.

In January 2026, the public chain landscape showed structural reallocation rather than an overall cooldown, with on-chain activity concentrating in high-frequency and high-efficiency networks. Solana maintained strong activity levels, Ethereum reinforced its role as a settlement layer, and Base expanded on the back of narrative-driven momentum, while some traditional L2s and sidechains weakened. Market capital allocation logic is increasingly shifting toward real usage efficiency. On Bitcoin, price action continues to oscillate around the short-term holder cost basis, with profit-taking cooling and selling pressure easing. Stress remains concentrated among short-term holders, while long-term holder structure stays intact, suggesting a mid-cycle consolidation rather than a trend reversal. At the project level, the rebound in Solana meme activity has reignited launchpad ecosystems. Pump.fun remains dominant, while Bags App has scaled rapidly through its novel “donation-driven” mechanism, leaving the sector in a

Ripple is a fintech giant dedicated to building the "Internet of Value." Its core vision is to leverage blockchain technology to enable assets to flow globally as seamlessly as information. As the backbone of its ecosystem, the XRP Ledger (XRPL) is an open-source decentralized ledger, while its native asset, XRP, serves as a "bridge asset" between different fiat currencies, designed to solve the problem of liquidity fragmentation in cross-border payments.