Gate Research Institute: Market pressure continues, risk appetite declines | Institutional funds continue to increase positions in BTC and ETH

Summary

• Bitcoin price continues to fluctuate within the bottom range, with $85,000–$86,000 forming the current most important short-term support zone. Ethereum price breaks below $2,900.
• Benefiting from airdrop fund reallocation, H rose 35.58% within 24 hours; under reward-driven demand and exchange risk adjustment, GHST increased by 21.17% in 24 hours.
• Traditional financial giant EquiLend invests in Digital Prime; Ripple partners with AMINA Bank for cross-border settlement services; Securitize plans to launch a fully on-chain stock trading platform in early 2026.
• BitMine increases holdings by 102,259 ETH again; Strategy has added over 10,000 BTC for two consecutive weeks; institutional funds continue to deploy countercyclically amid market pressure.
• RedotPay completes $107 million funding to expand stablecoin payment sector; ETHGAS raises $12 million to explore gas marketization; YO completes $10 million funding to develop decentralized social and digital identity.

Market Analysis

Market Commentary

• BTC Market — The crypto market remains under pressure, with market sentiment and derivatives data indicating further downside risk in the short term. Over the past 24 hours, Bitcoin price continues to fluctuate within the bottom range, with $85,000–$86,000 forming the key short-term support zone. From a daily chart perspective, Bitcoin remains in a clear downtrend channel, repeatedly encountering resistance near the upper boundary (around $90,000), confirming that the bearish trend has not been broken and sellers still dominate. Currently, the price oscillates around $87,000, with both the 100-day and 200-day moving averages above $100,000 and trending downward, creating medium-term dynamic resistance. Technical indicators show MACD forming a death cross again, with momentum bars below zero, indicating ongoing downward pressure; the price runs along the lower Bollinger Band, with bands narrowing, implying volatility compression and market preparation for a breakout. If the $85,000 support holds, a technical rebound may occur in the short term; otherwise, the price could further decline to the $82,000–$80,000 demand zone.
• ETH Market — In the past 24 hours, Ethereum price broke below the key support at $2,900 and continued downward, briefly dropping near $2,800. From a daily chart perspective, the price has broken below MA5, MA10, and MA30, with short-term moving averages showing a clear bearish alignment; the price continues to approach the lower Bollinger Band, MACD forms a death cross again, indicating dominant downward momentum. Currently, ETH shows a brief stabilization around $2,830; if this level is effectively defended, a technical rebound may occur in the short term, with initial resistance near the previous high at $2,950. However, if the price further breaks below $2,800, support levels will quickly shift lower, and the market may accelerate retracement toward the critical demand zone at $2,600. Overall, until ETH reclaims above $2,900, it remains in a weak, oscillating, and downward pressure structure.
• Altcoins — The market continues to decline overall, with the altcoin season index at 19, indicating risk appetite remains low. Structurally, aside from Bitcoin and stablecoins, mainstream altcoins generally decline by 2–3%, with most sectors showing synchronized weakness, reflecting that funds are mainly in a contraction, defensive, and wait-and-see mode.
• Stablecoins — The total market cap of stablecoins is currently $311.7 billion, down $2.2 billion in the past week, a decline of 0.71%.
• Gas Fee — Ethereum network gas fees have generally remained below 1 Gwei over the past week, with the highest hourly peak at 0.109 Gwei. As of December 17, the average gas fee for the day was 0.081 Gwei.

Popular Tokens

Over the past 24 hours, the market continued its decline, with risk appetite remaining low. Despite the overall pressure, a few tokens have outperformed against the trend, indicating the focus of phased funds. The following is a detailed analysis of these tokens.

H Humanity Protocol (+35.58%, Market Cap $176 million)

According to Gate data, H token is currently priced at $0.09751, up 35.58% in 24 hours. Humanity Protocol is a blockchain designed to counter Sybil attacks, specifically for secure, private, and decentralized identity verification. zkProofers play a key role by using zero-knowledge proofs to verify human identity and earn the protocol’s native token $H as rewards.

H’s rise is a result of fund reallocation after the airdrop and technical rebound. After an exchange airdrop on December 3–4 caused a 35% price drop, trading volume surged 354% within 24 hours, indicating new buyers started accumulating near the $0.076 support level. Traders may interpret the oversold RSI and MACD reversal from December 4–17 as a contrarian buy signal. The price re-broke the 7-day simple moving average ($0.067), triggering algorithmic buy orders.

GHST Aavegotchi (+21.17%, Market Cap $10.3 million)

According to Gate data, GHST is currently priced at $0.2027, up 21.17% in 24 hours. GHST is the native token of the Aavegotchi ecosystem, used for governance, staking, and participating in the creation and development of NFT ghosts (Gotchi). Aavegotchi combines DeFi staking yields with gamified gameplay, building a sustainable NFT game and community governance system on Polygon.

GHST’s increase results from reward-driven demand and exchange risk adjustment. Aavegotchi announced an upgraded reward scheme on December 5, increasing rewards by 50% compared to November, boosting GHST’s usage demand. Locking rewards also reduced circulating supply, pushing prices higher. Additionally, an exchange resumed GHST deposits and withdrawals on December 12 after a 7-day suspension due to network delays, during which volatility spiked 34%. The resumption eased selling pressure.

ACT Act I: The AI Prophecy (+25.86%, Market Cap $24 million)

According to Gate data, ACT is currently priced at $0.02560, up 25.86% in 24 hours. Act I: The AI Prophecy is a blockchain project and ecosystem token centered on artificial intelligence, positioned as a collection of AI-driven decentralized applications and gameplay. The token is used for ecosystem incentives, governance participation, and community engagement, with its price often influenced by market sentiment and thematic hype.

Act I: The AI Prophecy (ACT) surged 25.86% in the past 24 hours, outperforming the overall crypto market’s -1.73%. This rally aligns with its 32.52% weekly increase, mainly driven by technical momentum. ACT broke through the 7-day and 200-day moving averages, RSI approached overbought levels, and MACD histogram turned positive on December 17, indicating accelerating upward momentum.

Key Data

Traditional financial giant EquiLend invests in Digital Prime, connecting $40 trillion asset pools with tokenized markets

On December 17, securities financing infrastructure giant EquiLend announced a strategic minority investment in regulated crypto financing service provider Digital Prime Technologies, aiming to connect approximately $40 trillion in traditional financial assets with tokenized markets via its Tokenet institutional lending network. The partnership centers on Digital Prime’s institutional-grade lending network Tokenet, supporting full lifecycle management of multi-custodian, multi-collateral assets, risk exposure monitoring, and institutional reporting. Future plans include introducing compliant stablecoins as collateral and expanding tokenized financial instruments.

EquiLend states that this move responds to client demand for compliant, transparent, and governable workflows, enabling trading, clearing, settlement, and reporting processes to cover both traditional finance and digital assets. The collaboration indicates an accelerating trend of institutional capital entering on-chain credit, clearing, and asset-backed trading mechanisms, potentially bridging traditional assets into blockchain ecosystems. Overall, this partnership aims to improve efficiency in brokerage trading, financing, and securities lending, while promoting scalable, compliant tokenized assets and fostering closer institutional integration between TradFi and DeFi.

Ripple partners with crypto bank AMINA Bank to provide cross-border settlement

On December 17, Ripple announced a partnership with Swiss crypto bank AMINA Bank, marking Ripple Payments’ first adoption by a regulated European bank, a significant milestone. Through Ripple Payments, AMINA Bank can offer clients 24/7, minute-level cross-border fund settlement without relying on traditional correspondent banking systems. Ripple Payments supports both fiat and stablecoin channels (including Ripple USD, RLUSD), crucial for crypto-native enterprises and digital asset-related businesses, helping to alleviate structural limitations of traditional banking in on-chain fund processing.

AMINA states that this cooperation will significantly reduce cross-border settlement friction and enhance its ability to serve digital asset firms and institutional clients. Ripple emphasizes that this partnership further strengthens the connection between fiat and blockchain payment rails, providing seamless, multi-currency payment and clearing experiences for institutional clients. Notably, AMINA has been among the first banks to support RLUSD custody and trading. The deployment of Ripple Payments demonstrates that under high regulatory standards, blockchain payment infrastructure is accelerating into mainstream banking, setting an example for adoption across Europe and globally.

Securitize plans to launch a fully on-chain stock trading platform in early 2026

On December 17, tokenization service provider Securitize announced plans to launch what it claims will be the first fully compliant, fully on-chain stock trading platform for real listed companies in early 2026, further bridging traditional finance markets with Web3 infrastructure. Unlike “synthetic stocks” that track stock prices via derivatives or offshore structures, Securitize’s model provides full legal ownership, with shares issued directly by the issuing company and recorded in official shareholder registers. During trading hours, prices will match mainstream exchanges and comply with the “Best Bid and Offer (NBBO)” rule; outside trading hours, automated market-making mechanisms will set prices, enabling 24/7 continuous trading.

Securitize states that on-chain stock holders will enjoy real shareholder rights, including dividends and voting, with assets self-custodied by users, avoiding private pledge of shares by intermediaries. However, for compliance reasons, assets can only be transferred between approved whitelisted wallets. Overall, this service aims to combine traditional regulatory frameworks with Web3 features, providing a compliant, around-the-clock on-chain trading experience, addressing issues like low settlement efficiency and limited trading hours, and fostering integration and innovation between traditional finance and blockchain infrastructure.

This Week’s Focus

Hyperliquid active traders continue to decline, Perp DEX competition intensifies

This week, Hyperliquid’s daily active traders continued to decline, currently around 167,000, down more than 20% from the peak of over 210,000 in early November. This reflects changes in Hyperliquid’s competitive environment. As the decentralized perpetual futures sector accelerates expansion, more new platforms and established protocols are increasing product and operational investments, competing for high-frequency traders and professional users through more aggressive fee reductions, trading point incentives, market maker subsidies, and new contract launches. Hyperliquid’s previously concentrated trading activity is beginning to marginally disperse. Meanwhile, in a market with high-position oscillations and declining short-term volatility, some active accounts relying on volatility and funding rate arbitrage are reducing trading frequency or migrating temporarily to platforms with higher funding rate volatility, further amplifying the decline in active traders.

This does not mean Hyperliquid has lost competitiveness. To date, Hyperliquid remains one of the on-chain protocols with the highest fee capture ability outside stablecoin issuers, and continues token buybacks. The current cooling in activity is more a natural readjustment amid intensified industry competition. Its future performance will depend on product iteration speed, liquidity depth, and its ability to attract professional traders during high volatility.

BitMine increases ETH holdings by 102,259 again, nearing 4 million ETH

BitMine’s crypto assets and cash reserves total approximately $13.3 billion, including about 3,967,210 ETH (worth roughly $122 million), representing over 3.2% of the total ETH supply, completing about two-thirds of its goal to hold 5% of all ETH. Additionally, BitMine holds 193 BTC, approximately $38 million in Eightco Holdings equity, and $10 billion in cash. This scale makes BitMine the largest ETH treasury company and the second-largest treasury globally after Strategy.

In short-term dynamics, over the past week, BitMine added 102,259 ETH again, continuing to increase long-term strategic holdings despite poor market conditions. Chairman Tom Lee states that with favorable US legislation for digital assets expected in 2025, the crypto market fundamentals are gradually improving, reinforcing confidence in expanding ETH reserves. Besides asset expansion, BitMine is also developing its own Ethereum staking solution MAVAN, expected to launch in early 2026, aiming to provide better staking returns for ETH holdings.

Strategy continues to accumulate BTC, now holding over 670,000 BTC

The world’s largest BTC treasury company Strategy added another 10,645 BTC in the past week, with a total transaction volume of about $980 million at an average price of approximately $92,098 per BTC. Currently, Strategy’s total BTC holdings reach 671,268, with a total invested amount of about $50.33 billion based on historical purchase costs, and an average holding cost of approximately $74,972 per BTC, making it one of the most significant enterprise-level BTC reserves globally.

Notably, unlike previous accumulation methods, Strategy has bought over 10,000 BTC for two consecutive weeks, demonstrating management’s confidence in current market prices and long-term value, while also addressing FUD caused by price declines.

Funding Weekly Report

According to RootData, from December 12 to December 18, 2025, a total of 11 crypto-related projects announced funding or M&A, covering payments, stablecoins, DeFi, infrastructure, and other sectors. Below are brief descriptions of the top-funded projects:

RedotPay

Announced on December 16, completion of $107 million funding led by Goodwater Capital.

RedotPay is a blockchain payment and digital wallet technology company focused on building stablecoin-centric global payment solutions. By connecting blockchain infrastructure with traditional finance, it enables users to quickly and securely use crypto assets for daily payments, remittances, and settlements worldwide. RedotPay offers multi-currency wallets, stablecoin payment cards, global remittance channels, P2P markets, and more, aiming to facilitate seamless crypto usage in real life, promote the shift from “holding tools” to “payment tools,” and enhance financial inclusion and cross-border payment efficiency.

ETHGAS

Announced on December 17, completion of $12 million funding led by Polychain.

ETHGAS is an innovative market infrastructure project focused on acquiring and trading Ethereum block space. Its core positioning is to build a hybrid trading market within the Ethereum ecosystem that provides price discovery and risk management for traders, developers, and validators. Unlike traditional on-demand gas bidding mechanisms, ETHGAS treats block space commitments and base fees as tradable assets, using CLOB to match buyers and sellers, combined with non-custodial smart contracts to collateralize validator commitments, enabling users to hedge gas fee volatility or lock future block space rights more efficiently.

YO

Announced on December 14, completion of $10 million funding led by Foundation Capital.

YO is a blockchain project and decentralized social ecosystem targeting Web3 communities. It aims to be a digital identity-driven decentralized network and interaction platform, reshaping user participation in the digital world through on-chain identities, token incentives, and content contribution mechanisms. YO claims to build infrastructure around community governance, user rights incentives, and content value sharing, allowing users to earn YO tokens by posting content, participating in community activities, completing tasks, and contributing value. These tokens can also be used for governance, supporting creators, or redeeming benefits.

Next Week’s Focus

Token Unlocks

According to Tokenomist, in the next 7 days (2025.12.19 - 2025.12.25), several major tokens will undergo large unlocks. The top three are:

• ZRO will unlock tokens worth approximately $33.16 million, representing 12.4% of circulating supply.
• H will unlock tokens worth approximately $10.16 million, representing 5.6% of circulating supply.
• MBG will unlock tokens worth approximately $7.94 million, representing 12.2% of circulating supply.
  Sources

• Gate, https://www.gate.com/trade/BTC_USDT
• Farside Investors, https://farside.co.uk/btc/
• Gate, https://www.gate.com/trade/ETH_USDT
• Gate, https://www.gate.com/crypto-market-data
• DeFiLlama, https://defillama.com/stablecoins
• Etherscan, https://etherscan.io/gastracker
• Coingecoko, https://www.coingecko.com/en/cryptocurrency-heatmap
• HyperTracker, https://app.coinmarketman.com/hypertracker/stats
• PR Newswire, https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bitmine-immersion-bmnr-announces-eth-holdings-reach-3-97-million-tokens-and-total-crypto-and-total-cash-holdings-of-13-3-billion-302641888.html
• The Fintech Times, https://thefintechtimes.com/ripple-payments-secures-first-european-bank-adoption-with-amina-bank-partnership/
• CoinDesk, https://www.coindesk.com/business/2025/12/17/tradfi-giant-equilend-backs-digital-prime-to-link-usd40-trillion-pool-with-tokenized-markets
• CoinDesk, https://www.coindesk.com/business/2025/12/17/securitize-to-offer-first-fully-onchain-trading-for-real-public-stocks-in-early-2026

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