Gate Research Institute: Market sentiment shows marginal improvement | Polygon PoS transaction fee burn hits a new all-time high

Cryptocurrency Market Overview

• BTC (-0.21% | Current price 92,505 USDT): Bitcoin has retreated from recent highs over the past day and entered a consolidation phase. The price has fallen back to around $92,500, and the short-term upward momentum has paused. The moving average structure shows divergence, with MA5 crossing below MA10, and the price has broken below short-term support levels. However, the medium-term MA30 remains upward, indicating that the overall bullish structure has not been broken. The MACD is below the zero line, with the green bars narrowing but not yet turning red. The bearish momentum is easing, but reversal signals are still insufficient. Overall, BTC is in a short-term correction after a high-level rebound. If it can regain the $93,500–$94,000 range, the upward trend may continue; otherwise, if it remains under pressure below the moving averages, attention should be paid to the support at $91,800–$92,000.
• ETH (-0.23% | Current price 3,250 USDT): ETH’s trend is relatively stronger than BTC, maintaining above $3,250 with sideways consolidation, showing a high-level sideways strength. The moving average system remains bullish, with MA5 and MA10 close together, providing short-term support. MA30 continues to rise, reflecting a healthy medium-term trend. The MACD oscillates slightly around the zero line, with alternating red and green bars, indicating a balance between bulls and bears, mainly digesting previous gains in the short term. Overall, ETH remains in a strong consolidation phase. A volume breakout above $3,300 could open further upside potential; a drop below $3,200 should raise caution about testing support near $3,150.
• Altcoins: The fear index has risen to 42, entering the “fear” zone. It has significantly recovered from the “extreme fear” levels of last week and last month but is slightly lower than yesterday, reflecting market sentiment that is prone to fluctuations.
• Macro: On January 6, the S&P 500 rose 0.62% to 6,944.82 points; the Dow Jones increased 0.99% to 49,462.08 points; the Nasdaq gained 0.65% to 23,547.17 points. As of 10:15 AM ( UTC+8 on January 7, the spot gold price is temporarily at $4,467 per ounce, down 0.62% within 24 hours.

Hot Tokens in the Market

DSYNC Destra Network (+71.71%, Market Cap $51.82 million)

According to Gate data, the current price of DSYNC is $0.05172, up approximately 71.71% in 24 hours. Destra Network is a network project built around decentralized AI infrastructure and autonomous agents, focusing on integrating AI Agent runtime environments, reasoning capabilities, and incentive mechanisms into on-chain systems.

The rapid rise of DSYNC in this round is mainly driven by emotional and narrative resonance amid multiple event releases. Recently, the project announced key developments, including the launch and early testing of NPC 2.0, a preview of the mobile AI node product Destra Edge, and a buyback-driven airdrop mechanism for long-term participants, significantly boosting market expectations for project execution and ecosystem deployment.

FHE Mind Network (+35.76%, Market Cap $11.78 million)

According to Gate data, the current price of FHE is $0.04791, up 35.76% in 24 hours. Mind Network is a privacy computing network centered on fully homomorphic encryption, aiming to provide native privacy protection infrastructure for AI Agents, on-chain payments, and enterprise-level applications.

The recent increase in FHE is mainly due to phase resonance of privacy narratives and event signals. The project team has recently reviewed progress toward 2025 and outlined the roadmap for 2026, emphasizing AI Agent payments, enterprise-ready privacy infrastructure, and FHE’s critical role in on-chain commerce. The community and founders’ continuous output about the “Year of Privacy 2026” further reinforce long-term narrative expectations.

XPLA CONX* (+43.06%, Market Cap $21.29 million)*

According to Gate data, the XPLA token is currently at $0.02744, up about 43.06% in 24 hours. XPLA CONX is an infrastructure project focused on Web3 gaming, IP co-creation, and interactive content ecosystems. Its core positioning involves bringing developers, creators, and well-known IP into a collaborative framework through an Arena mechanism, promoting on-chain game prototypes, pixel art co-creation, and playable content. The product emphasizes “challenge-based,” “evaluation-based,” and “reward pool-driven” models, using open competitions and industry review mechanisms to provide a low-threshold testing ground for Web3 gaming and IP narratives.

The recent surge in XPLA is mainly driven by multiple Arena events recently promoted, creating an event-driven effect. NOM Arena has officially closed submissions and entered evaluation and prototype submission phases. JOO JAEBUM Arena announced upcoming launches, with a $10,000 reward pool and collaborations with well-known IPs, continuously strengthening the project’s activity in gaming and creative sectors.

Alpha Insights

Aave Horizon RWA Lending Hits New Highs, Institutional On-Chain Lending Accelerates

Aave’s Horizon RWA market recently hit a record high, with active borrowing surpassing $200 million, indicating that real-world assets are increasingly penetrating the DeFi lending system. This growth reflects rising demand from institutions and structured funds for on-chain financing supported by offline assets, as well as market recognition of Aave’s compliant RWA architecture in terms of regulation and risk control. Compared to earlier retail-focused DeFi lending expansion, this growth is more skewed toward assets with predictable cash flows and stronger credit attributes.

From a macro perspective, the continuous expansion of borrowing scale highlights deeper integration between traditional finance and DeFi infrastructure. The use of RWA is shifting from concept validation to scaled application, gradually becoming an important asset-liability tool in the on-chain credit market. If this trend continues, Aave is expected to further consolidate its position in the institutional DeFi sector and reinforce RWA as a strategic growth engine for the industry’s next phase.

Polygon PoS Fee Burn Reaches Record High, Deflationary Effects Phase-Visible

Polygon PoS recently set a new record for daily fee burn volume, with approximately 3 million POL tokens burned in 24 hours, about 0.03% of the total supply. This data was disclosed by Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal, reflecting a significant increase in transaction activity and on-chain usage. The scale of fee burn usually indicates genuine demand rather than short-term incentives or events.

Structurally, the record high in fee burn reinforces deflation expectations under Polygon PoS and demonstrates its capacity to bear the load within the Ethereum scaling ecosystem. If high-frequency applications and on-chain interactions sustain current activity levels, fee burn will continue to marginally reduce token supply, supporting POL’s long-term value. However, ongoing observation is needed to determine whether this performance is sustainable or merely a temporary peak, and how it correlates with application growth and developer activity.

Solana’s Key Metrics in 2025 Surge, Ecosystem Scale and Funding Capacity Expand

Solana’s official review disclosed that many core metrics in 2025 hit new historical highs, indicating it has entered a phase of high-intensity application-driven expansion. The annual network revenue reached $1.4 billion, approximately 48 times larger than two years ago, reflecting significant deepening of on-chain economic activity. Daily active wallets increased to 3.2 million, up 50% year-over-year, setting new records and showing continuous growth in user participation and usage frequency. Meanwhile, the stablecoin supply at year-end rose to $14.8 billion, more than doubling, highlighting Solana’s increased capacity for payments, DeFi, and trading scenarios.

From capital and trading structure, Solana’s attractiveness and liquidity foundation have also risen. The total staked SOL increased to 421 million, up 8% YoY, supporting network security and long-term holding. The spot ETF inflow reached $1.02 billion, indicating ongoing acceptance by traditional financial institutions. Additionally, on-chain DEX trading volume for the year hit $1.5 trillion, up 57%, setting a new record, reflecting a shift from a high-performance blockchain narrative to a comprehensive on-chain financial infrastructure with real trading depth and scale.

References:

• 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
• X, https://x.com/Cointelegraph/status/2008576924818272570?s=20
• X, https://x.com/Cointelegraph/status/2008554403716849673?s=20
• X, https://x.com/solana/status/2008536556475478349
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