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In February 2026, the on-chain ecosystem exhibited more pronounced structural divergence amid price pressure. On-chain activity did not contract in tandem, but instead became further concentrated on high-frequency and high-efficiency networks. Solana maintained its dominance in high-frequency activity, while Base and Polygon continued to expand. Arbitrum saw a recovery in activity, but its capital retention and value capture weakened. Ethereum shifted from net outflows to significant net inflows, reinforcing its role as the primary settlement layer and a key hub for macro asset deployment. On the BTC side, the price pullback pushed short-term holders broadly into unrealized losses, with profit-taking cooling and sell pressure still concentrated among short-term positions, while the long-term holder structure remained intact. At the sector level, AI Agent, supply-side shocks, and institutional DeFi narratives coexisted. Short-term returns were driven by structural catalysts, while mid-term allocation continued

Gate Research: Large language models and AI agent technologies are pushing trading systems into a new stage of development. Quantitative trading, which previously relied heavily on programming skills and complex engineering systems, is gradually evolving into product forms with much lower barriers to entry. Gate has introduced products such as AI Quant Workspace and Gate for AI, which aim to integrate strategy generation, backtesting, and automated execution within a single platform through natural language interaction, no-code quant tools, and unified trading interfaces, allowing more users to participate in strategy trading. As AI technology continues to mature, trading platforms are also evolving from traditional matching tools into AI-driven trading infrastructure.

In February, the overall crypto market showed a weak trend, with notable outflows from BTC ETFs. Major blockchains remained stable throughout the month, with Solana leading by a wide margin at over 100 million daily transactions. Ethereum recorded 13.34 million unique active addresses, maintaining its second-highest level in history. TradFi trading volume on Perp DEXs surged to $47.3 billion, largely driven by Hyperliquid’s HIP-3. The Web3 sector completed 46 funding rounds totaling $986 million, with the top 10 projects accounting for $793 million—three major deals were led by Tether. Meanwhile, Web3 security incidents declined significantly month-over-month, though smart contract vulnerabilities remained the primary risk source.

Gate Research Institute: Over the past 24 hours, BTC briefly climbed above $71,000, but following a sharp drop and quick rebound during the U.S. market session, it settled back near $69,300. ETH rapidly declined from $2,070 to $2,010 and remains in a recovery phase. Altcoins showed weakness, with most lagging behind BTC, while the Fear & Greed Index remains in the extreme fear range. HUMA, NAORIS, and ARIA saw gains of 50.13%, 39.38%, and 29.02%, respectively, fueled by AI-related narratives. Additionally, Oracle’s earnings beat expectations, driving its share price up nearly 8% after hours, and both Hyperliquid and Circle announced significant product updates.

Gate Research: Between 2025 and 2026, PayFi is evolving from a crypto payment tool into a next-generation payment and financial engine, with stablecoins achieving scale in high-frequency and cross-border payments and demonstrating clear efficiency and cost advantages over traditional systems. As Web2 and Web3 continue to converge, institutions such as Visa, PayPal, and emerging neobanks are becoming key gateways to mainstream adoption, while the combination of stablecoins, real-world assets (RWA), and AI is shaping PayFi’s foundational architecture by enabling automated, always-on settlement, asset mobility, and risk management. Looking ahead to 2026, regulatory clarity, scalable asset tokenization, and the maturity of AI-driven financial systems will be the primary determinants of PayFi’s competitive landscape and long-term barriers.

Gate Research Weekly Report: BTC broke below $73,000 as deleveraging continued, with total liquidations reaching $2.56 billion over recent days; ETH pulled back to the key $2,000 support level, while a deeply negative premium index signals weakening institutional demand. Stablecoin market capitalization edged lower, and Ethereum gas fees remained subdued. Amid a structurally weak market, select assets moved counter-trend, including the BNB Chain Chinese meme coin “我踏马来了,” WMTX driven by the DePIN narrative, and SYN supported by adoption within the Filecoin ecosystem. On the event front, Ripple Prime integrated Hyperliquid, introducing a prime-brokerage model to on-chain derivatives, while Bitnomial launched regulated XTZ futures. On-chain data show a renewed convergence between profitable and unprofitable BTC supply, a historical “bottom signal” that may point BTC toward the $60,000 range, with key support at the 2021 peak near $69,000. Vitalik Buterin reassessed the L2 roadmap, emphasizing differentiated val

Gate Options Daily Market Update.

Gate Research Daily Report: On February 4, the crypto market continued to face broad pullback pressure, with major assets generally trading under strain. On the thematic side, capital remained concentrated in high-beta plays tied to AI and onchain infrastructure narratives. ARC rallied strongly on renewed attention around the “Rig” framework for AI builders, ALCH gained momentum on the back of AI workflow and agent tooling infrastructure themes, while ENSO drew interest for its cross-chain execution abstraction and one-stop DeFi execution layer concept. At the macro and industry level, the Puell Multiple has entered a historical discount zone, signaling increased miner stress but gradually improving long-term accumulation value. Gate Ventures announced a strategic investment in the crypto payment network Mesh, strengthening its positioning in stablecoin and payment connectivity infrastructure. Meanwhile, Vitalik reiterated that Ethereum L2s should shift away from the original “brand sharding” vision toward mo

Gate Research Daily Report: After a round of heavy selling, Bitcoin fell by around 20% over a two-week period. Ethereum has broken below USD 2,400, with the market structure turning bearish. Tweets related to C98 triggered retail FOMO, pushing the token up 37.03%, while PURR broke above the 23.6% Fibonacci retracement level and gained 28.37%. JPMorgan expects Warsh to accommodate Trump’s push for rate cuts in the short term before reverting to a more hawkish stance after the midterm elections; retail pessimism has entered extreme territory, raising the possibility of a technical rebound; and Cboe plans to relaunch binary options trading to compete directly with prediction markets.

Gate Research Daily Report: On Feb 2, crypto markets broadly fell as pullbacks in stocks and gold/silver weighed on risk appetite, with the Fear & Greed Index dropping to 14—its lowest level this year. BTC is consolidating near the lows after a capitulation wick, with $75K as key support and $80K as major resistance; ETH underperformed, with $2,200 as the critical line—if it breaks, downside targets shift to $2,150 and $2,000. Despite the weak tape, POKT, LMTS, and AVA outperformed on their respective catalysts. Key narratives included prediction markets posting a record $12B+ in January volume, the AI-agent narrative spilling into Clanker and boosting token launches/trading activity, and renewed risk debate in the meme sector after Murad’s reported ~$58M six-month drawdown.

Gate Research Daily Report: On January 30, the crypto market came under broad pressure, with Bitcoin falling below $82,000 and briefly dipping to around $81,000, while Ether retreated to the $2,700 level and remained technically weak. GT declined in tandem but showed relatively resilient downside, consolidating around the $9.20–$9.30 support zone. Despite weakness in major assets, selective capital rotation persisted, with small-cap tokens such as SENT and GWEI posting strong gains driven by AI and Ethereum infrastructure narratives. Meanwhile, a tech-led selloff fueled a cross-market risk-off move, alongside notable industry developments including Bit Digital’s exit from Bitcoin mining and the revival of The DAO with a $220 million Ethereum security fund.

Gate Research:From January 13 to January 26, 2026, the crypto market remained broadly weak amid macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty. Major assets traded lower in a defensive, range-bound structure, while market-cap performance showed clear divergence: the top 400 tokens posted mild pullbacks, whereas lower-cap segments outperformed. High-beta names such as PENGUIN and RIVER rallied sharply, while several previously overheated speculative assets saw steep corrections. Volume–price dynamics were also uneven—only a handful of tokens showed strong volume-price confirmation, while most remained in low-volume, weak-trend conditions. This suggests capital is still rotating tactically rather than positioning for a full trend reversal, though selective opportunities persist. Meanwhile, sectors such as NFT platform incentives, decentralized node networks, social task-based point systems, and prediction market ecosystems have begun rolling out airdrop-style campaigns. This report outlines the core participation p

Gate Options Daily Market Update.

Gate Research Weekly Report: BTC and ETH are consolidating after a pullback from recent highs; positioning has turned defensive, with flows rotating into steadier altcoin themes such as tokenized commodities/gold, payments, privacy, and DID. Ethereum continues to dominate tokenized commodity issuance with an 85% share. Long-term holders have accelerated distribution, marking Bitcoin’s strongest sell pressure since August. Prediction market volume hit a new all-time high, increasingly acting as an on-chain “expectations pricing layer.” Polymarket is driving a surge in USDC usage, and Mizuho upgraded Circle’s rating while highlighting its growth optionality. SUI is set to unlock roughly $60.94 million worth of tokens over the next 7 days, representing 11% of circulating supply.

Gate Research Daily Report: On January 28, the crypto market saw a brief relief rebound, with broad-based gains and capital rotating back into core assets and large-cap majors. On the thematic side, mid- and small-cap tokens such as PIPPIN, BNKR, and XRD rallied strongly on agent narratives and expectations around product/tooling updates, with flows clearly concentrating into higher-beta names. Meanwhile, Tether launched its USAT dollar stablecoin as part of a two-track approach combining regulatory segmentation and distribution expansion; Kite released a mainnet roadmap centered on agent-native trust and pay-per-call payments; and Polygon continued to lead x402 agentic payment transactions, while Base activity has weakened for eight consecutive days.