Gate Research: LazAI Alpha Mainnet Goes Live | Velo Partners with WLFI to Integrate USD1 into Its Ecosystem

Crypto Market Overview

• BTC (-0.73% | Current price: 88,500 USDT): Bitcoin is currently in a consolidation rebound phase. The 4-hour chart shows that BTC stabilized around the $84,000 level and staged a mild rebound; however, after briefly breaking above the $90,000 mark on Monday, it retreated again. The MACD green histogram continues to contract and has formed a bearish crossover near $88,000, indicating that buying momentum remains weak. From a daily chart perspective, Bitcoin has yet to decisively break out of the bottom range formed since late November and is still trading within the $84,000–$94,000 consolidation zone, with the overall trend characterized by sideways repair.
• ETH (-0.84% | Current price: 2,994 USDT): Over the past 24 hours, Ethereum has traded sideways around the key $3,000 psychological level, with a slight increase in trading volume. RSI continues to recover but has not yet entered overbought territory, suggesting that momentum is still building. After rebounding from the $2,700 support area, ETH has not yet broken out of its wedge consolidation pattern, nor has it reclaimed the 100-day and 200-day moving averages, which are currently converging around the $3,600 level. If buying interest can push the price above and hold this zone, ETH may enter a new upward cycle with a target range of $3,400–$3,500. Conversely, failure to break through could lead to a pullback toward $2,900, with the risk of revisiting the lower boundary of the channel. Notably, Ethereum ETFs have turned back to net inflows after six consecutive days of net outflows, with inflows approaching $600 million, signaling a potential return of institutional capital and serving as an important leading indicator for future price action.
• Altcoins: Over the past 24 hours, altcoins generally posted mild declines, with large-cap tokens falling within the 0.2%–1.5% range. XRP dropped 1.42%, while SOL declined 0.22%. The Altcoin Season Index stands at 16, near the lowest level of the past three months, indicating severely weak risk appetite and insufficient altcoin momentum before major assets stabilize.
• Macro: On December 22, the S&P 500 rose 0.64% to 6,878.49, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.47% to 48,362.68, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.52% to 23,428.83. As of December 23 at 04:00 AM (UTC), spot gold was trading at $4,487 per ounce, up 1.00% over the past 24 hours, once again setting a new all-time high.

Trending Tokens

PORTAL Portal (+22.65%, circulating market cap: USD 19.31 million)

According to Gate market data, PORTAL is currently trading at USD 0.026, up 22.65% over the past 24 hours. Portal is a cross-chain gaming platform that aims to provide users with a unified entry point by aggregating Web3 games and assets across multiple public blockchains. Its core objective is to lower the barriers to blockchain gaming by simplifying wallets, accounts, and asset interactions, thereby attracting traditional gamers into the Web3 ecosystem.

The rally in PORTAL reflects market optimism toward its institutional infrastructure buildout. On December 4, Portal completed a USD 25 million funding round led by JTSA Global. The capital will be used to launch a non-custodial, atomic-swap-based OTC platform designed to enable large-scale, cross-chain, intermediary-free settlement and attract institutional users seeking Bitcoin-level security. This aligns with Portal’s vision of positioning Bitcoin as the settlement layer for tokenized assets, thereby boosting demand for PORTAL as a utility token.

EPIC Epic Chain (+14.63%, circulating market cap: USD 23.02 million)

According to Gate market data, EPIC is currently priced at USD 0.7674, up 14.63% in the past 24 hours. Epic Chain is rapidly emerging as one of the fastest-growing real-world asset (RWA) ecosystems in Web3, with operations spanning more than 150 countries worldwide. The project aims to build the world’s first RWA super-architecture, integrating both retail and institutional resources across asset classes ranging from consumer goods to capital markets.

The rise in EPIC is the combined result of a technical rebound from depressed levels and improving market expectations. In mid-December, Epic Chain briefly fell to the cycle low region (around USD 0.46), triggering a technically oversold bounce. In addition, the project’s RWA narrative and its potential infrastructure and institutional access roadmap are viewed as medium- to long-term positives, helping attract short-term buying interest and stabilize prices near the lows.

ANIME Animecoin (+22.85%, circulating market cap: USD 48.26 million)

According to Gate market data, ANIME is currently trading at USD 0.008815, up 22.85% over the past 24 hours. Animecoin aims to transform the global anime industry into a community-owned creative network. As a cultural token for the anime sector, Animecoin seeks to power a digital economy that enables over one billion anime fans worldwide to shape and own the future of anime.

The surge in ANIME has been primarily driven by leveraged speculation. Between December 20 and 21, multiple algorithmic trading signals recommended 50x leveraged long positions on ANIME, with target price ranges of USD 0.0065–0.007, which retail traders may have front-run. High leverage amplified price volatility, and ANIME perpetual futures funding rates turned positive for the first time in 30 days (+0.00326%), indicating an increase in long positioning.

Alpha Insights

LazAI Alpha Mainnet Goes Live, Ushering in the Era of Verifiable AI Data Assetization

On December 22, the LazAI Alpha mainnet officially went live, marking a critical milestone as the project transitions from the testnet phase to a production-ready, AI-native blockchain. The mainnet adopts the QBFT consensus mechanism and leverages the Metis SDK network (including Hyperion) for METIS settlement, enabling real-time on-chain anchoring and assetization of AI interaction data. Specifically, every interaction between users and AI agents can be minted into a unique data asset, known as a Data Anchoring Token (DAT). Through PoS and settlement-layer mechanisms, these assets achieve transparent provenance and revenue attribution, laying the infrastructure for transforming AI data from centralized training inputs into verifiable, ownable on-chain assets. Developers can deploy verifiable AI agents using LazAI Docs and the Alith framework, and receive multi-layered support through incentive programs, accelerating ecosystem expansion.

By embedding AI interaction behaviors on-chain and generating traceable, permissioned assets, LazAI aims to address long-standing pain points in the AI ecosystem—namely, the difficulty of defining data ownership and fairly distributing data-generated value. This mechanism helps unlock economic incentives around data rights, attracting more developers and users to participate in ecosystem building. As key features on the 2025–2026 roadmap—such as zero-knowledge privacy, decentralized compute markets, and multimodal data evaluation—are progressively implemented, LazAI is expected to evolve into a core platform linking AI training, data assetization, and value settlement.

Velo and WLFI Form Strategic Partnership to Introduce USD1 into the Ecosystem

On December 22, according to official announcements, RWA-focused PayFi infrastructure protocol Velo revealed a strategic partnership with World Liberty Financial (WLFI) to integrate the USD1 stablecoin into the Velo ecosystem, strengthening PayFi infrastructure across Asia. USD1 is a fully dollar-backed, compliant stablecoin custodied by BitGo Trust. Its integration is expected to enhance Velo’s stablecoin liquidity and settlement capabilities, supporting real-world use cases across payments, foreign exchange, and digital asset management platforms.

The partnership aims to build a closed-loop financial network connecting consumer payments, FX, and digital asset services, while enhancing Velo’s institutional-grade settlement and compliance foundation. The introduction of a USD-denominated stablecoin improves Velo’s ability to support high-frequency, cross-border value flows in Asia’s rapidly expanding digital economy and enhances user experience in addressing real financial needs. Overall, this initiative not only enriches Velo’s stablecoin and payment layers but also accelerates the convergence of traditional finance and Web3 PayFi.

DWF Labs Completes Its First Physical Gold Transaction, Signaling Entry into the RWA Market

On December 22, DWF Labs partner Andrei Grachev disclosed that DWF Labs has just completed its first physical gold transaction—a test trade involving a 25-kilogram gold bar—which was executed smoothly. DWF Labs is now expanding its business scope and plans to trade physical silver, platinum, and cotton in the future, with the long-term vision of securing a meaningful position in the RWA market.

This transaction highlights DWF Labs’ strategic shift from a pure digital asset market maker and liquidity provider toward a broader participant in real-world asset trading. Establishing capabilities in physical asset transactions strengthens its role as a bridge between on-chain and off-chain value, and underscores growing institutional interest in asset tokenization and on-chain settlement of physical assets. Beyond validating physical gold delivery and settlement, this milestone lays the groundwork for expanding into other commodities. In the near term, it may also increase market attention on the potential of RWA initiatives and contribute to greater ecosystem diversification.


References

• Gate, https://www.gate.com/trade/BTC_USDT
• Farside Investors, https://farside.co.uk/btc/
• Gate, https://www.gate.com/trade/ETH_USDT
• X, https://x.com/LazAINetwork/status/2003095444218331206?s=20
• Velo, https://www.velo.org/veinspire-announcements/velo-announces-integration-of-usd1-with-world-liberty-financial-to-strengthen-payfi-infrastructure-across-asia
• X, https://x.com/ag_dwf/status/2003043095433359630

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