Research

This report summarizes the Web3 industry financing in September 2025. During the month, a total of 100 funding rounds were completed, raising $2.2 billion, exhibiting a structural trend of “fewer deals, higher valuations.” This trend was primarily driven by traditional financial instruments such as PIPEs and IPOs, positioning CeFi as the leading capital-attracting sector. In terms of sector distribution, blockchain services and CeFi acted as dual drivers of capital flow. Regarding financing stages, the market showed high concentration in seed rounds—both in number and funding amount (e.g., Flying Tulip’s massive seed round)—while later-stage projects were highly selective.The report also highlights key financing projects, including Flying Tulip, Wildcat Labs, Aria, Share, and Titan.

Gate Research Daily Report: On October 15, Bitcoin (BTC) experienced a strong upward move after a period of high-level consolidation; Ethereum (ETH), after a sharp decline, found support at lower levels and saw a short-term rebound; GateToken (GT) briefly touched the $17.5 mark; and BAS surged approximately 132.85% within 24 hours. Meanwhile, Base’s native token is set to launch soon, aiming to build an interconnected ecosystem on Ethereum. K33 Research Director Vetle Lunde noted in a recent report that the recent leverage flush in the market represents a “healthy adjustment.”

Gate Research notes that in his latest speech, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell highlighted significant downside risks to the labor market, suggesting the Fed may halt balance sheet reduction in the coming months. Markets interpreted this as a further dovish shift in policy. As a result, the US dollar retreated, and the probability of a rate cut at the Fed's October 28–29 meeting has risen to 97.8%, with only a 2.2% chance of keeping rates unchanged.

Gate Research Daily Report: On October 10, BTC briefly surged above $126,000 before quickly retreating and subsequently fell below $121,800, forming a clear downward structure. ETH, after declining from a high near $4,755, briefly broke short-term support and touched a low of $4,265, followed by an oversold rebound. GT, from its peak of $17.31, gradually declined to a low of $16.10 before showing signs of a temporary bottom.Meanwhile, RAIL (+75.7%), ZEC (+41%), and SNX (+21%) rose strongly against the trend, highlighting renewed capital inflows and hot sentiment in the privacy and DeFi narrative sectors.Q3 DeFi TVL reached a record high, but user activity significantly declined. Aave partnered with Blockdaemon to facilitate institutional access to DeFi services. Flying Tulip announced its first public fundraising partner, Impossible, with whitelist applications officially open.

Gate Research Daily Report: On October 13, BTC showed signs of a rebound after briefly dipping to around $102,000. ETH touched a low of $3,394 before quickly stabilizing and rebounding, showing strong short-term recovery momentum. The total global stablecoin supply surpassed $301.5 billion, reaching a new all-time high. Meanwhile, USST, a stablecoin launched by Tether co-founder Reeve Collins under the STBL project, has continued to depeg since its debut. Grayscale also filed a Form 10 with the SEC for its Bittensor Trust (TAO), marking a significant step toward full regulatory registration.

On October 13, BTC showed signs of a rebound after briefly dipping to around $102,000. ETH touched a low of $3,394 before quickly stabilizing and rebounding, showing strong short-term recovery momentum. GT found solid support near $14 after a sharp decline, then consolidated and began breaking out with rising volume. In addition, tokens such as SNX (+87.3%), DASH (+50%), and TAO (+40.1%) posted strong rebounds as capital rapidly flowed back into the Privacy and DeFi sectors, reigniting market momentum. The total global stablecoin supply surpassed $301.5 billion, reaching a new all-time high. Meanwhile, USST, a stablecoin launched by Tether co-founder Reeve Collins under the STBL project, has continued to depeg since its debut. Grayscale also filed a Form 10 with the SEC for its Bittensor Trust (TAO), marking a significant step toward full regulatory registration.

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 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.

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.

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.

Gate Research Daily Report: On September 29, BTC led the rebound by breaking above $112,000, while ETH surged all the way to $4,146. KAITO stood out, with over $170 million committed to the Kaito Launchpad. FORM and COW rose 23% and 14% respectively, benefiting from strong buying momentum and short squeezes. Plasma DeFi’s TVL climbed to $5 billion, ranking sixth among DeFi protocols by total value locked.

Gate Research Daily Report: On September 29, BTC led the rebound by breaking above $112,000, while ETH surged all the way to $4,146. KAITO stood out, with over $170 million committed to the Kaito Launchpad. FORM and COW rose 23% and 14% respectively, benefiting from strong buying momentum and short squeezes. Plasma DeFi’s TVL climbed to $5 billion, ranking sixth among DeFi protocols by total value locked.

Gate Research Daily Report: On September 30, today’s BTC price action showed initial consolidation in a lower range, followed by a strong rally and subsequent consolidation at higher levels. According to Gate market data, XAN is currently priced at $0.192, up about 102.45% in 24 hours; gold prices hit a new all-time high with the tokenized gold market approaching $3 billion; Bitcoin’s market capitalization has surpassed Amazon to rank sixth globally, while the total cryptocurrency market cap reached a record high of $4.1 trillion; Ethereum spot ETFs recorded $547 million in net inflows yesterday, ending five consecutive days of net outflows.

Last week, XPL surged over 70.87% at launch, emerging as the week's top-performing token. MYX and ZEC also gained 63% and 26% respectively, bucking the short-term market trend. Arbitrum topped the public chain rankings with $3.8 billion in net inflows. World Chain, fueled by internal treasury transfers, saw $122 million in net inflows and reached a record high in application activity. Meanwhile, Plasma—the Tether-backed stablecoin chain—went live on the mainnet with the launch of its native token XPL. Leveraging aggressive "airdrop-style" marketing and oversubscription, it quickly captured market attention. Within just days of launch, its TVL exceeded $4.9 billion, making it one of the hottest projects of the week.

Gate Research Weekly Report: On October 7, BTC broke above 126,000 to reach a new high and is now consolidating in a short-term range. Plume has acquired institutional staking protocol Dinero, strengthening its integration of RWA and compliant staking. 21Shares has partnered with wealth management platform Stratiphy to expand access to crypto ETNs for retail investors. Uniswap’s TVL has surpassed $7 billion, setting a new high for 2025. Bitcoin spot ETFs recorded a net inflow of $897 million over the past seven days, signaling a notable return of institutional buying. On October 8, DDC announced the completion of a $124 million funding round to advance its Bitcoin reserve strategy.