Gate DeFi Daily Report (, September 26, ): Aster's daily transaction fees exceeded $16 million, setting a new record; Plasma launched and issued Token XPL.

On September 26, the entire crypto market continued to face pressure, with BTC falling below $110,000 and ETH losing the $4,000 level. The total DeFi TVL across the network dropped to approximately $148.049 billion, a 3% decline over 24 hours. In trading, the total volume of DEX surprisingly rebounded to $30.242 billion, with Ethereum DEX trading volume increasing by 135% week-on-week to regain the top position. In terms of protocol TVL, mainstream projects were generally under pressure, but Ethena maintained growth against the trend; meanwhile, the Aster protocol set new records in transaction fees and activity levels, becoming the market focus.

Overview of the Decentralized Finance Market

(Source: DeFiLlama)

Total DeFi TVL across the network: Today (September 26), the crypto market continues to decline, with BTC falling below $110,000 and ETH losing the $4,000 mark; the total DeFi TVL across the network has dropped to the level of $148 billion, currently at $148.049 billion, with a 24H decrease of 3%.

DEX 24-hour volume: approximately 30.242 billion USD, an increase from the previous day (20.445 billion USD). The top three are: PancakeSwap (6.142 billion USD), Uniswap (3.891 billion USD), HumidiFi (2.988 billion USD).

Popular Protocols and On-chain Performance

According to TVL, the top ten DeFi protocol data is as follows:

(Source: DeFiLlama)

The performance data of the top-ranked protocols are as follows:

· Aave: TVL approximately 39.736 billion USD, decreased by 6.30% in the past week.

· Lido: TVL approximately 33.531 billion USD, decreased by 14.14% in the past week.

· EigenLayer: TVL approximately 16.432 billion USD, decreased by 14.99% over the past week.

· Ethena: TVL approximately 14.485 billion USD, a rise of 2.73% over the past week.

· ether. fi: TVL approximately $9.771 billion, decreased by 12.94% in the past week.

In addition, the top ten projects by protocol fees in the past 24 hours are as follows:

(Source: DeFiLlama)

Among them, Aster's protocol fees in the past 24 hours reached 16.2 million USD, setting a new historical high, second only to Tether; Ethena ranked third, with protocol fees of 12.4 million USD in the past 24 hours; Jupiter ranked fourth with 8.24 million USD, surpassing Circle (7.72 million USD).

Project News Summary

1. The well-known YouTuber MrBeast (@MrBeast) purchased 538,384 ASTER (approximately 990,000 USD) in the past 3 days. He deposited 1 million USDT into Aster through the public wallet 0x9e67 and the new wallet 0x0e8A, and then withdrew 538,384 ASTER. The average purchase price is likely around 1.87 USD.

2. According to the information revealed in the CEX HODLer airdrop announcement regarding the FF token economics:

Total supply of FF tokens: 10 billion

Maximum supply: 10 billion coins

HODLer airdrop reward: 150,000,000 FF (accounting for 1.50% of the total maximum supply of tokens)

An additional 150,000,000 FF will be used for marketing activities 6 months after the listing.

Initial circulation on CEX: 2,340,000,000 FF ( accounts for 23.40% of the maximum token supply.

On September 20, Falcon Finance released the FF token economics, with a total supply of 10 billion tokens, managed by an independent foundation. Its distribution is as follows: 35% allocated to the ecosystem, 32.2% allocated to the foundation, 20% allocated to the core team and early contributors, 8.3% for community airdrops and Launchpad sales, and 4.5% allocated to investors.

3. The Aster platform's XPL contract experienced significant abnormal fluctuations this morning. Community analysis indicates that this abnormal event was due to serious negligence on the part of the operator, and not a vulnerability or attack. Specifically, the index price was hard-coded at 1 USD; the marked price was capped at 1.22 USD. After the price ceiling was removed, the price instantly surged to 4 USD, while prices on other trading platforms remained stable.

The Aster platform responded promptly, stating, "We have noticed unusual price fluctuations in the XPL perpetual contract trading pair. Please rest assured that all user funds are safe. We are conducting a comprehensive review and will compensate affected users for their losses."

As of the time of this article, the issue with the XPL perpetual contract trading pair has been fully resolved. During this period, all users who were forcibly liquidated will have their liquidation losses calculated and will be compensated directly to their wallets in USDT within the next few hours.

4. WLFI officially announced that the community has voted to allocate 100% of the WLFI treasury liquidity fees for buybacks and burns, and the proposal passed almost unanimously. The team will begin implementing this plan this week, and all buyback and burn operations will be transparently disclosed once completed.

5. The stablecoin protocol Level announced that its team will soon be acquired by a leading Decentralized Finance protocol. Since its launch nearly a year ago, the market capitalization of lvlUSD has reached a high of 185 million dollars, while slvlUSD has provided users with an average annualized yield (APY) of over 7%. As part of this transition, the Level protocol will be gradually shut down, including lvlUSD and slvlUSD. All users can unlock slvlUSD and redeem lvlUSD, with all cooling periods reduced to 2 seconds.

6. The Layer 1 blockchain Plasma, designed specifically for stablecoins, announced the launch of its mainnet and the release of its native token XPL. It also introduced a zero-fee transfer feature for USDT based on its self-developed consensus mechanism PlasmaBFT, and has integrated over 100 DeFi projects.

Plasma positions the new network as an infrastructure designed for global capital flow. The team stated that the chain is EVM compatible and in the initial phase, users can achieve zero-fee transfers of USDT. Upon launch, partnerships were established with Aave, Ethena, Fluid, and Euler.

7. US stock ETH treasury company ETHZilla plans to deploy approximately 47 million USD worth of ETH, equivalent to about 10,600 ETH, to enhance treasury yield.

8. PayPal collaborates with the decentralized finance platform Spark to promote the on-chain liquidity growth of PYUSD, aiming to expand the current deposit scale of 100 million USD to 1 billion USD in the coming weeks. PYUSD is issued by Paxos and is pegged to the US dollar, and it has recently been integrated into Spark's lending market SparkLend. This integration allows users to deposit and borrow PYUSD, while the liquidity is supported by Spark's 8 billion USD stablecoin reserve pool.

9. River announced the launch of Smart Vault and Prime Vault on Base, based on the yield products of its stablecoin, filling the financial layer for the on-chain economy. Base's mission is "to bring the world on-chain" while River is committed to connecting assets and opportunities across multiple ecosystems. Through the stablecoin satUSD and one-click financial products aimed at retail and institutional investors, assets can cross borders, flow freely, and be activated.

River is the first chain-abstract stablecoin system, with a current TVL of 700 million USD, a satUSD circulation of 290 million USD, and ranked 24th in the DeFiLlama stablecoin ranking, surpassing Resolv and BUSD in supply.

Overview of Major Leading DeFi Projects

Ethereum DEX 24-hour volume returns to the top, approximately 9.321 billion USD, a rise of 138% compared to the previous day (3.915 billion USD); the top three projects are:

Uniswap ($3.509 billion), Fluid ($2.62 billion), Curve Finance ($1.103 billion);

Solana DEX ranks second in 24-hour trading volume, approximately 6.003 billion USD, with the top three projects being:

HumidiFi ($1.917 billion), Meteora ($1.103 billion), Orca ($716.76 million);

BSC DEX ranks third in 24-hour trading volume, approximately 5.178 billion USD, with the top three projects being:

PancakeSwap (3.406 billion USD), Uniswap (743.53 million USD), SquadSwap (47.75 million USD).

Gate DeFi sector token market data

According to the data from Gate's market page, the price performance of the top ten tokens in the DeFi sector is as follows:

(Source: Gate DeFi Market Trend)

As of September 25, the cryptocurrency market is struggling to hide its downturn, with tokens in the DeFi sector experiencing a general fall; specifically:

· WLFI is currently reported at 0.1937 USD, with a 24-hour fall of 3.00%;

· UNI is currently at 7.40 USD, with a 24-hour fall of 5.14%;

· AAVE is currently priced at 260.79 USD, with a 24-hour fall of 3.86%;

· MYX is currently reported at 9.28 USD, with a 24-hour fall of 11.99%;

· INJ is currently at 11.60 USD, with a 24-hour fall of 3.17%;

· CRV is currently reported at 0.6462 USD, with a 24-hour fall of 4.70%;

· MORPHO is currently reported at 1.66 USD, with a 24-hour fall of 1.53%;

· FLUID is currently reported at 6.92 USD, with a 24-hour rise of 7.58%.

Market Trend Interpretation

TVL continues to decline, mainstream protocols are generally under pressure — The TVL of Aave, Lido, and EigenLayer fell by 6%–15% over the week, and the trend of capital withdrawal has not yet reversed. — ether. fi's TVL dropped by nearly 13%, reflecting liquidity tightening pressure. — Ethena showed a slight increase of 2.73%, demonstrating the relative resilience of stablecoins and yield products.

DEX volume unexpectedly rises — The 24-hour trading volume increased to 30.242 billion USD, a significant rise compared to the previous day. — PancakeSwap, Uniswap, and HumidiFi recorded 6.142 billion USD, 3.891 billion USD, and 2.988 billion USD respectively, showing that funds are accelerating their games in a volatile market.

Aster becomes the biggest highlight in the market — In the past 24 hours, protocol fees reached 16.2 million USD, hitting a new high, second only to Tether. — MrBeast purchased over 530,000 ASTER (approximately 990,000 USD) in three days, enhancing community attention through his celebrity effect. — Meanwhile, the Aster platform's XPL perpetual contracts experienced unusual price fluctuations, and the official has promised compensation. Although the funds are safe, it highlights the systemic pressure during its rapid expansion phase.

Ecosystem Expansion and Active Mergers — The stablecoin protocol Level announced its acquisition and will gradually shut down its original products. — The Plasma mainnet has launched, announcing a zero-fee USDT transfer feature, which has attracted over a hundred DeFi projects to connect. — PayPal collaborates with Spark to scale the PYUSD on-chain from 100 million dollars to 1 billion dollars.

Analyst Opinion

The rapid rise of Aster is both an opportunity and a risk The record-high transaction fees and the entry of stars indicate a strong demand for Aster's derivatives market, but the large withdrawals by whales and contract volatility events also remind the market that its potential risks cannot be ignored.

Stablecoin sector shows defensive value Against the backdrop of a general decline in TVL, Ethena has shown steady growth, and the entry of traditional financial forces like PayPal further highlights the strategic position of stablecoin infrastructure.

Short-term capital speculation is active, while long-term remains under macro pressure The surge in DEX volume indicates that market trading enthusiasm is still present, but the overall downward trend in TVL has not changed, showing that the liquidity environment remains tight, and the DeFi market may continue to maintain a fluctuating pattern.