Gate Research Institute: Mainstream alts slightly recover | Q3 encryption venture capital reaches three-year high

Encryption Asset Panorama

BTC (+0.57% | Current Price 89,226 USDT)

BTC has gained support around $86,000 and has slightly rebounded with the market to the $88,000–$89,000 range, with the short-term structure gradually stabilizing. In terms of moving averages, MA5 and MA10 are steadily operating above MA30, indicating that prices are maintaining a mild recovery pace, but overall, there is still a lack of clear trend breakout signals. It is necessary to observe whether the price can consistently hold above $88,000 to strengthen the rebound momentum. The MACD red bars have significantly expanded on the 25th but have gradually converged afterwards, indicating that while short-term buying interest has increased, the market's willingness to chase prices remains limited. If BTC can stabilize above $87,500–$88,000, the upward oscillation structure can continue; if it falls below $87,000, it may test the support area near $85,000 again.

ETH (+0.79% | Current Price 2,977 USDT)

ETH halted its decline around $2,900 and made a strong rebound to the $2,980–3,000 range on the evening of the 25th, showing some improvement in short-term sentiment. In terms of moving averages, MA5 and MA10 have consistently remained above MA30, indicating a relatively healthy structure and stable rebound momentum. However, it is still necessary to observe whether it can maintain a steady position in the $2,950–2,980 range to confirm the strength of the bulls. The MACD red bars significantly expanded on the 25th and then began to slow down, indicating that short-term buying has entered but the intensity has not further increased. If ETH can hold above $2,950, it will maintain a slightly stronger oscillation pattern; if it breaks below $2,900, attention should be paid to the price potentially retesting the area below $2,850.

GT (+0.40% | Current Price 10.15 USDT)

After fluctuating around 10 dollars, GT slightly rose to the 10.10–10.20 dollar range in the morning of the 26th, maintaining an overall range fluctuation structure. In terms of moving averages, MA5 and MA10 are slightly above MA30, showing a mild short-term repair, but the trend strength remains limited, currently belonging to a sideways weak to flat phase. The MACD red bars have stabilized after the 25th, with no obvious signs of increased volume, indicating limited market buying interest and more funds are in a wait-and-see mode. If GT can stabilize in the 10.10–10.20 dollar range, the short-term range is expected to continue; however, if it breaks below the 10 dollar mark, attention should be paid to whether it will retest the lower support of 9.70–9.80 dollars.

Daily Price Fluctuation Tokens

In the past 24 hours, market sentiment remains cautious, with the fear index staying in the extreme fear range of 15, reflecting a continued weakening of investors' risk appetite. Despite the gloomy sentiment, mainstream altcoins have seen slight recoveries in the last 24 hours, with SOL rising by 1.26%, and DOGE, ADA, TRX, etc., recording moderate increases of 0.4%–1%. XRP, on the other hand, has slightly retreated by nearly 2%, showing relatively weak performance. Overall, funds have shown selective replenishment amid panic sentiment, but the momentum is limited, and the market is still in a cautious consolidation phase.

MON Monad (+43.61%, Market Cap 514 million USD)

According to Gate market data, the current price of the MON token is $0.04699, having risen approximately 43.61% in the last 24 hours. Monad is a new generation L1 blockchain aimed at high-performance decentralized applications, designed with parallel execution, low-latency confirmation, and strong scalability at its core, providing developers with an on-chain operating environment close to Web2 experience. Its architecture enhances throughput through MonadVM and a parallel execution engine, allowing smart contracts to achieve higher execution efficiency while maintaining EVM compatibility, helping dApps operate stably in an environment of mainstream chain congestion and high fees.

Recently, the Monad mainnet has officially launched, and it is simultaneously promoting the centralized deployment of ecological applications, attracting significant market attention. Key infrastructure such as cross-chain bridges, DEX, synthetic assets, and derivatives platforms have all gone live on the mainnet, creating a complete usability loop for Monad from the outset. In addition, the MON token has been listed on mainstream exchanges like Gate, accelerating capital inflow. At the same time, the official team has engaged in deep cooperation with Telegram Wallet, allowing users to directly deposit, withdraw, and exchange MON within Telegram, further strengthening user access and token liquidity. The mainnet launch, rapid ecological expansion, centralized CEX listings, and integration with major entry applications have collectively driven a significant increase in market demand and expectations for MON, becoming the main catalyst for its strong short-term price surge.

IP Story Network (+21.66%, circulating market value 739 million USD)

According to Gate's market data, the current price of the IP token is $2.976, with a 21.66% increase in the last 24 hours. Story Network is an L1 blockchain designed for “programmable IP,” aiming to transform long undervalued production materials such as cultural content, creative data, learning trajectories, and AI training materials into on-chain assets that can be rights-validated, composable, and tradable.

Recently, Story announced the official launch of several key ecological modules, including the launch of the first batch of prediction markets, collaboration with the MUSIC protocol to expand prediction applications related to culture and entertainment, and the education technology company EDUM migrating its millions of hours of learning data to Story for use in AI training as authorized IP. At the Investor Day, IP Strategy (IPST, a Nasdaq-listed company) emphasized Story's role as a “track for IP monetization,” further increasing market attention. These announcements not only clarify the practical landing scenarios of Story in AI training, educational data, and cultural IP fields, but also demonstrate its potential to bring the $80 trillion global IP market into a tradable asset class. Multiple ecological advancements, the launch of high-traffic application scenarios, and the endorsement from traditional capital markets have collectively driven a rapid increase in market demand and expectations for IP tokens, becoming the main driving force behind the significant price rise in the past 24 hours.

ICNT Impossible Cloud Network Token (+20.80%, Circulating Market Cap 4,606 million USD)

According to Gate's market data, the current price of the ICNT token is $0.24678, with an increase of approximately 20.80% in the last 24 hours. The Impossible Cloud Network is a protocol network aimed at next-generation distributed cloud infrastructure, designed to replace the single points of failure and centralized performance bottlenecks in traditional cloud services with a decentralized architecture. Its core design includes a four-layer stack: ScalerNodes for providing hardware computing power, a protocol layer for resource abstraction, HyperNodes responsible for performance and execution enforcement, and a delivery layer that guarantees service to end users.

Recently, ICN released important network performance data, including over 5.56 million protocol verifications, 127 ScalerNodes across 6 regions, a total of 91.54 PB of available network capacity, and over 915,000 ICNT in node staking, showcasing the rapid growth of its infrastructure scale. At the same time, the official released the “four-layer cloud stack” and emphasized ICN's advantages in anti-single point failure and high-reliability enterprise service scenarios, further reinforcing its narrative as a distributed cloud alternative. With the continuous increase in network scale, verification data, and node participation, the market is repricing the potential value of ICNT as a cloud infrastructure token, driving a significant increase within 24 hours, reflecting investors' growing attention to the distributed cloud space.

Hot Topic Interpretation

Circle Arc testnet launches Gateway, enhancing cross-chain USDC liquidity capabilities.

Circle L1 blockchain Arc has launched a brand new Circle Gateway on the testnet, providing developers with a more efficient cross-chain stablecoin infrastructure. The Gateway supports unified management of USDC balances, instant cross-chain fund scheduling, and on-demand generation of cross-chain liquidity, transforming the cross-chain experience from the previously fragmented multi-chain state to centralized management. This move significantly reduces the technical complexity for developers in cross-chain stablecoin scenarios and improves application building efficiency.

Through one-click access to all supported chains, Arc Gateway further strengthens multi-chain interoperability, providing a smoother cross-chain experience for DeFi, payments, on-chain settlements, and enterprise-level financial applications. The unified USDC liquidity pool not only reduces liquidity fragmentation but also helps enhance overall capital utilization. As the Gateway functionality matures, Arc is expected to become the central hub for cross-chain stablecoin liquidity, accelerating the expansion of the cross-chain application ecosystem centered around USDC.

Q3 encryption venture capital scale has risen to a three-year high, but funding is becoming centralized and showing a preference for later stages.

In the third quarter of 2025, the scale of blockchain venture capital rose to $4.59 billion, marking the second highest record since Q3 2022, indicating that the market maintains structural investment enthusiasm despite macroeconomic uncertainties. Although the overall number of transactions remained roughly stable compared to the previous quarter, the distribution of funds was highly concentrated, with just 7 large transactions accounting for over half of the total investment amount, clearly showing a bias towards leading projects, while the capital acquisition ability for early and medium-sized projects continues to tighten.

In the third quarter, nearly 60% of venture capital funds flowed into later-stage companies, marking the second highest since Q1 2021. This also reflects investors' preference for mature teams with commercial foundations and scaling capabilities. On the other hand, the fundraising environment remains weak, with 16 new funds raising only $3.16 billion, primarily supported by two large exchange-associated funds, indicating a decline in overall venture capital fundraising interest and a cautious approach from external capital. Overall, while the venture capital scale in Q3 rebounded, it is structurally more concentrated and conservative, with early-stage innovative projects still facing financing pressures.

USDe TVL has fallen back to 7.6 billion USD, a decrease of more than half compared to October.

The total value locked (TVL) in Ethena's synthetic stablecoin USDe has significantly decreased from 14.8 billion dollars in October to about 7.6 billion dollars, a decline of over 50%. This change is mainly influenced by a weakening market, reduced demand for leverage, and the convergence of perpetual funding rates, causing the annualized yield of USDe to drop from double digits at the beginning of the year to around 5.1% today. However, despite the significant decrease in TVL, the actual on-chain usage of USDe is showing a growth trend, with on-chain transaction volume exceeding 50 billion dollars last month, indicating its stickiness in payment, trading, and liquidity use cases.

The rapid contraction of TVL is primarily due to the concentrated liquidation of the leverage cycle strategy commonly used in DeFi lending protocols, which is particularly evident on platforms like Aave. In the past, arbitrageurs would repeatedly use sUSDe as collateral to borrow USDC, then exchange it back for sUSDe to obtain high-leverage returns, as long as the annualized return on USDe was higher than the cost of borrowing USDC, they could maintain a positive yield. However, as the yield on USDe fell below Aave's borrowing cost of 5.4%, this cycle strategy no longer had a profit margin, prompting the rapid liquidation of leveraged positions and further exacerbating the contraction pressure on TVL. Overall, the market is shifting from a high-leverage model to a deleveraging phase, and the usage structure of USDe is being readjusted from “yield-driven” to “real demand.”

<br> Reference Materials:

• Gate, https://www.gate.com/trade/BTC_USDT
• Farside Investors, https://farside.co.uk/btc/
• Gate, https://www.gate.com/trade/ETH_USDT
• Farside Investors, https://farside.co.uk/eth/
• Gate, https://www.gate.com/crypto-market-data
• Investing, https://investing.com/indices/usa-indices
• Investing, https://investing.com/currencies/xau-usd
• CoinGecko, https://www.coingecko.com/en/cryptocurrency-heatmap
• X, https://x.com/arc/status/1993049220035784878
• X, https://x.com/intangiblecoins/status/1993010266100187496?s=20
• DefiLlama, https://defillama.com/stablecoin/ethena-usde

<br> Gate Research Institute is a comprehensive blockchain and encryption research platform that provides readers with in-depth content, including technical analysis, trending insights, market reviews, industry research, trend forecasts, and macroeconomic policy analysis.

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