Gate Research Institute: LazAI Alpha Mainnet officially launched｜Velo partners with WLFI to bring USD1 into the ecosystem

Crypto Market Overview

• BTC (-0.73% | Current Price 88,500 USDT): Bitcoin is currently still in a phase of fluctuating rebound. The 4-hour chart shows that after stabilizing around 84,000 USDT, BTC has initiated a mild rebound, but after briefly breaking through the 90,000 USDT mark on Monday, it has fallen back again. The MACD green bars continue to converge and form a death cross around 88,000 USDT, indicating that buying momentum is still insufficient. From a daily structure perspective, Bitcoin has not effectively exited the bottom range formed since late November and is currently still operating within the 84,000–94,000 USDT correction stabilization range, primarily focusing on fluctuating repairs.
• ETH (-0.84% | Current Price 2,994 USDT): In the past 24 hours, Ethereum's price has fluctuated around the $3,000 level, with a slight increase in trading volume. The RSI continues to rise but has not yet entered the overbought zone, indicating that market momentum is still accumulating. After rebounding from the $2,700 support area, the price has yet to break through the wedge consolidation pattern and has not stood above the 100-day and 200-day moving averages, which are currently converging around $3,600. If subsequent buying pressure can push the price to break through and stabilize in this area, ETH is expected to embark on a new upward trend, targeting the $3,400–$3,500 range; conversely, if the breakout fails, the price may fall back to around $2,900, with the risk of testing the lower channel again. It is noteworthy that after six consecutive days of net outflows, the Ethereum ETF has shifted back to net inflows, approaching $600 million, indicating that institutional funds are starting to flow back in, and their movement could be an important precursor signal for subsequent market changes.
• Altcoins: Over the past 24 hours, altcoins have generally seen a slight decline, with large-cap cryptocurrencies dropping between 0.2% and 1.5%. Among them, XRP fell by 1.42% and SOL by 0.22%. The altcoin season index is at 16, indicating that risk appetite is at the bottom of the past three months, suggesting that altcoin momentum is severely lacking before mainstream cryptocurrencies stabilize.
• Macroeconomic: On December 22, the S&P 500 index rose by 0.64%, closing at 6,878.49 points; the Dow Jones index increased by 0.47%, closing at 48,362.68 points; the Nasdaq index gained 0.52%, closing at 23,428.83 points. As of December 23, 12:00 PM (UTC+8), the spot gold price is temporarily reported at $4,487 per ounce, up 1.00% within 24 hours, reaching a new historical high again.

Trending Tokens on Dune

PORTAL Portal (+22.65%, circulating market value 19.3091 million USD)

According to Gate.io market data, the PORTAL token is currently priced at $0.026, having increased by 22.65% in the past 24 hours. Portal is a cross-chain gaming platform aimed at providing users with a unified entry point, integrating Web3 games and assets across multiple public chains. Its core goal is to lower the participation threshold for blockchain games by simplifying the wallet, account, and asset interaction processes, thereby attracting more traditional players into the Web3 ecosystem.

The rise of PORTAL reflects the market's optimistic attitude towards its institutional infrastructure development. On December 4th, Portal completed a round of financing led by JTSA Global, raising $25 million. The funds will be used to launch a non-custodial over-the-counter (OTC) platform based on atomic swaps, aimed at achieving large-scale, cross-chain settlement without intermediaries, attracting institutional users seeking Bitcoin-level security. This aligns with Portal's vision of positioning Bitcoin as a tokenized asset settlement layer, driving demand for PORTAL as a utility token.

EPIC Epic Chain (+14.63%, Market Cap 23.019 million USD)

According to Gate.io market data, the current price of the EPIC token is $0.7674, having increased by 14.63% in the last 24 hours. Epic Chain is rapidly developing into one of the fastest-growing real-world asset (RWA) ecosystems in Web3, with operations covering more than 150 countries worldwide. The project is dedicated to building the world's first RWA superstructure, integrating individual and institutional resources across major asset classes from consumer goods to capital markets.

The rise of EPIC is a result of a technical correction at a low level combined with market expectations. Epic Chain once dropped to a low point in this cycle (around $0.46) in mid-December, triggering a certain degree of technical oversold rebound. In addition, the RWA narrative surrounding the project and the potential infrastructure and institutional access roadmap are seen as favorable expectations in the medium to long term, which also helps attract short-term buying and stabilize confidence in the low area.

ANIME Animecoin* (+22.85%, circulating market value 48.2578 million USD)*

According to Gate.io market data, the current price of the ANIME token is $0.008815, with a 22.85% increase in the last 24 hours. Animecoin is committed to transforming the global anime industry into a community-owned creative network. As a cultural token of the anime industry, Animecoin will promote a digital economic system that enables a billion anime enthusiasts worldwide to shape and own the future of anime.

The rise of ANIME is primarily driven by leveraged speculation, with multiple algorithmic trading signals recommending a 50x leveraged long position on ANIME between December 20 and 21, targeting a price range of $0.0065 to $0.007. Retail traders may have followed these price ranges in advance. High leveraged speculation has intensified price fluctuations, and the funding rate for ANIME perpetual contracts has turned positive for the first time in 30 days (+0.00326%), indicating an increase in long positions.

Alpha Interpretation

LazAI Alpha mainnet officially launched, ushering in an era of verifiable AI data assetization.

On December 22, the LazAI Alpha mainnet has officially launched, marking a key step from the testnet phase to a production-grade AI native blockchain. This mainnet adopts the QBFT consensus mechanism and is based on the Metis SDK network (including Hyperion) to implement METIS settlement, allowing AI interaction data to be anchored and assetized in real-time on-chain. Specifically, each interaction between users and AI Agents can be minted into a unique data asset (Data Anchoring Token, DAT), and achieves transparent tracing and revenue attribution through PoS and settlement layer mechanisms. This establishes the infrastructure for AI data transitioning from centralized training to verifiable, ownable on-chain assets. Developers can utilize LazAI Docs and the Alith framework to deploy verifiable AI Agents, and receive multi-level support through incentive programs to rapidly expand the ecosystem.

By embedding AI interaction behaviors on-chain and generating traceable and authorized assets for them, LazAI is expected to change the current pain points in the AI ecosystem where “data rights are difficult to confirm, and profits are hard to attribute.” This mechanism helps stimulate economic incentives for data ownership, thereby attracting more developers and users to participate in ecosystem building. With the gradual realization of key functions such as ZK privacy protection, decentralized computing market, and multimodal data evaluation in the 2025–2026 roadmap, LazAI will continue to evolve, becoming the core platform connecting AI training, data assetization, and value settlement.

Velo has reached a strategic cooperation with WLFI to bring USD1 into the ecosystem.

On December 22, according to official news, the PayFi infrastructure protocol Velo, focused on RWA, announced a strategic partnership with World Liberty Financial (WLFI) to integrate the USD1 stablecoin into the Velo ecosystem, enhancing the PayFi infrastructure in the Asia region. USD1 is a compliant stablecoin fully backed by dollar assets and held in custody by BitGo Trust. This integration will enhance Velo's stablecoin liquidity and settlement capabilities, promoting the practical application scenarios of its payment, foreign exchange, and digital asset management platforms.

The cooperation aims to build a closed-loop financial network that connects consumer payments, foreign exchange, and digital asset services, while enhancing the institutional-level settlement capabilities and compliance foundation of the protocol. The introduction of USD stablecoins helps improve Velo's ability to support high-frequency cross-border value flows in the growing Asian digital economy, while strengthening the service experience for users facing real financial needs. Overall, this layout not only enriches Velo's stablecoin layer and payment infrastructure but also helps promote the integration between traditional finance and Web3 payment finance.

DWF Labs completed its first physical gold transaction and plans to enter the RWA market.

On December 22, Andrei Grachev, a partner at DWF Labs, stated that DWF Labs has just completed its first physical gold transaction. This was a test transaction involving a 25-kilogram gold bar, and everything went smoothly. DWF Labs is expanding its business and plans to trade physical silver, platinum, and cotton in the future, with the vision of capturing a significant share in the RWA market.

This transaction reflects that DWF Labs is transitioning from being a pure digital asset market maker and liquidity provider to a broader RWA trading participant. The establishment of physical asset trading capabilities helps enhance its role in on-chain/off-chain value bridging, while also highlighting the increasing importance that crypto institutions place on asset tokenization and the demand for on-chain settlement of physical assets. Furthermore, this not only verifies the physical delivery capability of gold but also lays the foundation for expanding the trading of other physical commodities in the future. In the short term, this initiative may increase market attention on the potential of RWA business and promote ecological diversification.
Reference materials:

• 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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