Gate Ventures Weekly Crypto Recap (August 25, 2025)

Gate Ventures

TL;DR

• Jerome Powell signaled a potential shift to monetary easing, and the market is pricing in a 25 bps rate cut this September.
• This week’s economic data includes US GDP, core PCE, durable goods orders, new home sales, consumer confidence, personal income and spending data.
• ETH outperformed BTC as it hit a new all time high on Powell’s rate cut hint and strong ETF inflows, while BTC struggled with continued outflows.
• The market excluding BTC and ETH rose, with ETH related DeFi tokens like Aave posting strong gains.
• OKB surged over 70 percent on X layer meme trading activity, while TON fell 4 percent.
• New tokens WLFI and Plasma showed strong pre TGE performance, with Plasma’s presale selling out in under 30 minutes.
• Aave deploys on Aptos in First Non-EVM Expansion of Its Lending Protocol.
• Chainlink achieves ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Compliance for Oracle Services with TVS surpasses $90B.
• USDe expands backing beyond BTC and ETH with BNB under new eligible asset framework.
• Most funded are Data sector.

  Macro Overview

  Jerome Powell signaled a potential shift to monetary easing, and the market is pricing in a 25 bps rate cut this September.
  At the 2025 Jackson Hole Economic Symposium, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell delivered a speech against a backdrop of mounting economic complexity, signaling a potential shift toward monetary easing. Although he stopped short of explicitly committing to a rate cut, markets have interpreted his remarks as a strong indication of a 25 bps rate cut in September. Core PCE inflation has risen to 2.9%, with a marked increase in goods prices. Powell acknowledged the impact of tariffs on consumer prices, and he emphasized that the key policy concern is whether these price increases will trigger more persistent inflation.
  In light of the risks, the Fed has made a significant adjustment to its policy framework. Powell announced the return to a more traditional and flexible inflation target. He noted that recent years have shown that a deliberate moderate overshoot of inflation does not work well in practice — especially in an environment of sharp and sustained inflation shocks. This shift is more than just a technical revision to policy tools, it represents a recalibration of the Fed’s communication strategy.

This week’s upcoming data includes US GDP, core PCE, durable goods orders, new home sales, consumer confidence, personal income and spending data. The US updates 2025Q2 GDP data following an initial reading of 3.0%. Additionally, there will also be the core PCE data for July, and the previous CPI data has shown a lower-than-expected headline reading with a steady 2.7% increase. Indications from the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge will be crucial for expectations relating to the interest rate path ahead of the September meeting, and the markets are pricing in a strong likelihood of a rate cut. Other key US economic data includes durable goods orders, new home sales and personal income and spending.

DXY

The dollar index dropped last Friday as a response to Jerome Powell’s dovish speech on future Fed policies and rate cuts, the investors are betting on a transit in the Fed’s view to the macroeconomy.

US 10-Year Bond Yield

As investors and liquid capital flooded into the risky assets, the US Treasury 10-Year Bond yield dropped significantly to around 4.27%.

Gold

Gold prices quickly went upward last Friday as Powell’s dovish speech sparked the investors’ interests in pricing in an early rate cut, with more liquidity into the market.

Crypto Markets Overview

1. Main Assets

BTC Price

ETH Price

ETH/BTC Ratio

SOL/ETH Ratio

Ethereum broke an all-time high soon after Jerome Powell commented about shifting the Fed’s focus towards the job market, instead of inflation, signaling the possibility of a rate cut in September.

While broader markets showed optimism over improving liquidity conditions, BTC failed to gain momentum and briefly dipped below the $115k level. Spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded five consecutive days of net outflows last week, totaling $1.17b. In contrast, Spot ETH ETFs saw $241m in outflows but turned to net inflows starting August 21 as ETH’s price gained momentum and broke past its ATH, with inflows accelerating further on August 22.

ETH continues to show substantial buying power from both primary and secondary ETF markets, while Bitcoin may serve as a leading indicator for U.S. equities. The ETH/BTC ratio still appears to have room for upside.

2. Total Market Cap

Crypto Total Marketcap

Crypto Total Marketcap Excluding BTC and ETH

Crypto total marketcap dropped by 0.96% the whole week while crypto total marketcap excluding BTC and ETH increased by 0.55%. ETH’s price increase has supported growth in DeFi and LST tokens such as Aave, offsetting part of the market cap decline in BTC. Compared to BTC rallies, ETH price increases tend to drive broader gains across altcoins. There is a possibility that liquidity supporting Bitcoin could rotate into ETH and certain ETH-related altcoins.

3. Top 30 Crypto Assets Performance

Source: Coingecko and Gate Ventures, as of 25th August 2025

Aave has led the recent gains, trading at $335 as of August 25. The rally has been supported by ETH’s price increase; during the previous cycle in 2021, Aave reached $650 when ETH broke its ATH. Further appreciation in ETH could continue to drive upside momentum across DeFi tokens.

On the other hand, TON posted the weakest performance with a 4% decline. Since early August, its price has been consolidating, fluctuating within the $3.14–$3.675 range.

Following the previous week’s gains, OKB recorded another increase of over 70% last week. Its current FDV is approximately $3.9 billion, which is thirty times smaller than BNB’s FDV. The meme ecosystem on the X layer was particularly active last week, with as many as nine projects launched on the launchpad alone, suggesting that OKB still has considerable room for growth.

4. New Token Launched

The most significant TGE upcoming are WLFI and Plasma. WLFI, the Trump-related defi platform, is now trading at $0.23, which is 4.6x compared to its public sale price. Meanwhile, Plasma, the first stablecoin chain to TGE in this cycle, is now trading at $0.54 in the pre-TGE market. Backed by Bitfinex, Bybit, and Framework Ventures, Plasma is one of the most anticipated blockchains in this cycle, focusing on stablecoin and payment. Plasma’s presale held in July 2025 was sold out in less than 30 minutes at an FDV of $500m and is now trading at $5.3b FDV.

The Key Crypto Highlights

1. Aave deploys on Aptos in First Non-EVM Expansion of Its Lending Protocol
Aave, decentralized finance’s largest lending provider with over $50B in net deposits and nearly $37B TVL, has launched on Aptos, marking its first deployment on a non-EVM blockchain. The move underscores Aave’s multichain strategy to broaden access to global lending markets. At launch, Aave supports USDC, USDT, APT, and sUSDe, with Aptos Foundation incentives to drive user adoption. Chainlink Price Feeds are integrated for oracle-secured markets, ensuring reliable pricing, the deployment follows a full re-implementation of Aave V3 in Move. Aave also introduced a $500,000 bug bounty in GHO to further strengthen security.

In general, Aave and Aptos see significant opportunities in liquid staking markets, noting only 8.1% of APT is currently in LSTs compared to 76% directly staked. The rollout positions Aave as a liquidity engine for Aptos, which seeks to reinvigorate user activity after declining transactions over the past year. Both teams expect the collaboration to accelerate TVL growth, expand collateral types, and serve as a blueprint for future non-EVM deployments, subject to Aave DAO governance.
2. Chainlink achieves ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Compliance for Oracle Services with TVS surpasses $90B
Chainlink has become the first blockchain oracle platform to secure ISO 27001 certification and a SOC 2 Type 1 attestation, following audits by Deloitte & Touche LLP. The certifications cover Price Feeds, SmartData (Proof of Reserve, NAV), and the Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP). Chainlink secures over $90B in assets and holds 68% of the oracle market, supporting leading DeFi protocols such as Aave, GMX, Ether.fi, Pendle, and Compound, as well as major institutions including Swift, UBS, and SBI Digital Markets.

The certifications validate Chainlink’s enterprise-grade security and operational standards, reinforcing its role in powering tokenized asset markets. Certified services include CCIP for cross-chain data and value transfer, Price Feeds for real-time data, Proof of Reserve for collateral checks, and NAVLink for tokenized funds. These milestones position Chainlink as critical infrastructure for the next wave of onchain finance, where trillions in real-world assets are expected to move onto blockchains.

3. USDe expands backing beyond BTC and ETH with BNB under new eligible asset framework
Ethena has approved Binance’s BNB as the first new asset eligible to back USDe’s perp-hedge collateral, marking the rollout of a new “Eligible Asset Framework.” The rules-based structure sets quantitative and governance thresholds for adding future assets, expanding beyond bitcoin and ether as the foundation of USDe’s peg. The protocol’s risk committee confirmed that XRP and Hyperliquid’s HYPE meet preliminary thresholds, suggesting they could be onboarded next, pending further risk assessments. USDe, Ethena’s synthetic dollar, maintains stability by pairing dollar-denominated assets with delta-hedged perpetual futures positions. With a $11.75B circulating supply, it is currently crypto’s third-largest stablecoin.

The framework permits a portion of USDe’s hedges to reference additional large-cap, liquid assets that satisfy lending, borrowing, and market-structure checks, while preserving reliance on established instruments for the majority of its backing. Governance posts detail the process for asset evaluation, aimed at widening collateral sources without weakening risk controls.

Key Ventures Deals

1. o1.exchange secures $4.2M to launch Base’s first comprehensive trading terminal
o1.exchange has raised $4.2M in a funding round led by Coinbase Ventures and AllianceDAO to build the first full-scale trading terminal on Base, marking one of the most well-funded infrastructure projects in the ecosystem. Functionally, o1.exchange is positioning itself as an enterprise-grade terminal, featuring real-time DEX analytics, TradingView integration, wallet tracking, advanced order types (limit, TWAP, sniping), and ≤1-block execution speed to minimize slippage. The platform also offers multi-wallet management with cross-chain bridging, integrating with major Base projects such as Zora and BaseApp, as well as Uniswap V4 for improved liquidity and order flow.

The platform is rolling out an aggressive incentive program to attract adoption, offering 45% cashback on trading fees and 41% referral revenue sharing. Such high reward structures are rarely seen in either centralized or decentralized exchanges and are designed to draw both retail and professional traders. The initiative comes as Base’s ecosystem has surged with meme tokens and NFTs but lacks mature trading infrastructure. By delivering professional-grade tools and strong incentives, o1.exchange aims to replicate early strategies of centralized exchanges and establish itself as the primary trading hub on Base.

2. VanEck, Fabric Ventures back $6M for Loop Crypto to advance stablecoin payment infrastructure
Loop Crypto has raised $6M in a funding round co-led by VanEck and Fabric Ventures, strengthening its push to build stablecoin-based payment infrastructure. The raise adds to prior support from a16z Crypto and Archetype. Institutional investors echoed this outlook. VanEck highlighted the role of stablecoins in reshaping the banking sector, while Fabric Ventures emphasized their commitment to scalable blockchain solutions in the payments arena

Loop Crypto is focused on cross-border stablecoin payments, aiming to reduce reliance on traditional intermediaries while improving settlement speed and cost efficiency. With stablecoins increasingly at the center of institutional strategies and DeFi adoption, Loop Crypto’s positioning highlights a broader industry shift toward digital-first, inclusive payment rails. The company is now set to capitalize on stablecoins’ momentum as both enterprises and regulators explore ways to integrate blockchain-based payment solutions into the global financial system.

3. DigiFT raises $11M led by SBI Holdings to expand tokenized RWA Infrastructure
DigiFT, a Singapore-based real-world asset (RWA) exchange, has raised $11M in a new strategic round led by SBI Holdings, bringing its total funding to $25M. Other participants included Mirana Ventures, Offchain Labs, Yunqi Partners, and Polygon Labs. The raise underscores rising institutional confidence in RWA platforms as financial firms seek compliant frameworks for tokenization, supporting the expansion of tokenized products across equities, fixed income, alternatives, and crypto assets, while also enabling development of smart contract infrastructure to enhance interoperability and capital efficiency.

Operating under licenses from Singapore’s Monetary Authority and Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission, DigiFT offers regulated pathways for institutional adoption of tokenized assets. DigiFT already partners with leading asset managers, including Invesco, UBS Asset Management, CMB International, and Wellington Management, to provide end-to-end tokenization and distribution services.

Ventures Market Metrics

The number of deals closed in the previous week was 16, with Infra having 9 deals, representing 44% for each sector of the total number of deals. Meanwhile, Data had 6 (38%) and DeFi had 3 (19%) deals

Weekly Venture Deal Summary, Source: Cryptorank and Gate Ventures, as of 25th Aug 2025

The total amount of disclosed funding raised in the previous week was $148M, 19% deals (3/16) in previous week didn’t public the raised amount. The top funding came from Data sector with $109M. Most funded deals: IVIX $60M, DigiFT $11M

Weekly Venture Deal Summary, Source: Cryptorank and Gate Ventures, as of 25th Aug 2025

Total weekly fundraising fell to $148M for the 4th week of Aug-2025, a decrease of -42% compared to the week prior. Weekly fundraising in the previous week was downed -3% year over year for the same period.

About Gate Ventures

Gate Ventures, the venture capital arm of Gate, is focused on investments in decentralized infrastructure, middleware, and applications that will reshape the world in the Web 3.0 age. Working with industry leaders across the globe, Gate Ventures helps promising teams and startups that possess the ideas and capabilities needed to redefine social and financial interactions.

Website: https://www.gate.com/ventures

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