Gate Research: Q3 DeFi TVL Hits Record High but User Activity Declines｜Flying Tulip Public Sale Whitelist Now Open

Crypto Market Overview

• BTC (-0.73% | Current Price: 121,348 USDT): BTC is currently trading in a weak consolidation pattern. On October 8, the price briefly surged above $126,000 but quickly retreated, and then on October 9 it broke below the MA30 (around $121,800), forming a clear downward structure. If BTC fails to reclaim the MA30 and break above the $122,000 area, it may test the $120,000 support level in the short term. If this support fails, attention shifts to the next key support around $119,600. On October 9, BTC ETFs saw a net inflow of $197 million, including $255 million into BlackRock IBIT and $13.2 million outflow from Fidelity FBTC.
• ETH (-1.59% | Current Price: 4,378 USDT): ETH has shown a “consolidation followed by stabilization and rebound” pattern. Since the high of around $4,755 on October 7, ETH briefly broke short-term support and reached a low of $4,265 before bouncing from oversold conditions. Currently trading near $4,370, if ETH can break above the MA30 with strong volume and hold above $4,400, it could test resistance between $4,450–$4,500. Conversely, if the rebound falters and it drops below $4,320, the risk of retesting $4,250 increases. On October 9, ETH ETFs saw a net outflow of $8.7 million, including $39.3 million inflow into BlackRock ETHA and $30.3 million outflow from Fidelity FETH.
• Altcoins: Most major altcoins saw slight declines, with market sentiment leaning “neutral” to “buy.” The Fear & Greed Index today stands at 64, in the greed zone, indicating relatively aggressive market sentiment.
• Macro: On October 9, the S&P 500 fell 0.28% to 6,735.11; the Dow Jones fell 0.52% to 46,358.42; the Nasdaq fell 0.08% to 23,024.63. As of 3:30 AM (UTC) on October 10, spot gold is priced at $3,972 per ounce, down 0.14% over the past 24 hours.

Trending Tokens

RAIL – Railgun (+75.7%, Market Cap: $224M)

According to CoinGecko, RAIL is currently priced at $3.92, up 75.7% in the past 24 hours. Railgun is a privacy protocol built on existing blockchains, leveraging zero-knowledge proofs (ZK Proofs) to enable anonymous DeFi transactions on Ethereum, Polygon, and Arbitrum without requiring bridges or additional validators, enhancing both security and decentralization.

The price spike followed the Ethereum Foundation wallet Kohaku’s announcement of integration with Railgun. RAIL briefly broke historical highs in the past 24 hours, with a cumulative gain exceeding 212% over the past week. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has previously used Railgun personally and publicly emphasized that “privacy is normal,” noting that the protocol can effectively prevent malicious actors from misusing fund flows. The market widely views this development as a potential catalyst for Railgun to become one of the most promising privacy infrastructure projects within the Ethereum ecosystem.

ZEC – Zcash (+41%, Market Cap: $3.847B)

CoinGecko reports ZEC at $236.1, up roughly 41% in 24 hours. Zcash (ZEC) is a privacy-focused cryptocurrency that allows users to choose anonymity when transacting. It is based on Bitcoin’s codebase but employs different hash algorithms and security protocols. Zcash uses zero-knowledge proofs (zk-SNARKs) to enable shielded addresses for transaction privacy.

The recent surge was triggered by a post from prominent angel investor Naval on October 1, describing Zcash as “insurance for Bitcoin,” which drew broad market attention. Since the announcement, ZEC has gained nearly 3x in value. In a macro environment increasingly oriented toward regulation and transparency, ZEC is regarded as a hedge against on-chain visibility risks, with gains driven largely by renewed investor interest in privacy narratives and potential safe-haven functionality.

SNX – Synthetix (+21%, Market Cap: $450M)

SNX is currently trading at $1.31, up about 21% in the past 24 hours (CoinGecko). Synthetix is a decentralized protocol on Ethereum that allows users to mint and trade synthetic assets (Synths) representing traditional fiat, commodities, stocks, or cryptocurrencies. SNX serves as collateral for these assets, providing on-chain exposure and acting as a liquidity layer within the DeFi ecosystem.

SNX’s recent rally was driven by several positive factors. First, Synthetix founder Kain Warwick proposed multiple governance optimizations, including improvements to the governance mechanism and tokenomics, raising market expectations. Second, the overall recovery in the DeFi sector has increased demand for synthetic assets, boosting SNX trading activity and token value. Additionally, technical upgrades aimed at improving minting and trading efficiency further strengthened the platform’s competitiveness. Technically, SNX has broken key resistance levels, with short-term upward momentum remaining, though investors should remain attentive to overall market volatility and capital flows within the DeFi sector.

Alpha Insights

Q3 DeFi TVL Hits Record High While User Activity Declines

According to the latest data from DappRadar, the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem showed a diverging performance in Q3 2025. Total Value Locked (TVL) in DeFi protocols reached $237 billion, setting a new all-time high, reflecting active inflows of institutional and large-scale capital. However, on-chain user activity showed a marked decline: the quarterly average of daily active unique wallets dropped to 18.7 million, down 22.4% quarter-over-quarter. The report highlights a disparity between institutional and retail participation: while capital continues to flow into DeFi, retail usage frequency has weakened, and on-chain transactions and interactions have not increased in tandem.

Overall, these figures illustrate the capital-driven nature of the DeFi market. While TVL has reached new heights, the decline in active users suggests that growth currently relies primarily on institutional funds rather than broad retail participation. This could create a mismatch between ecosystem activity and liquidity, enhancing protocol stability and capital concentration in the short term but also highlighting potential weaknesses in user growth and application stickiness. For project teams, attracting sustained retail usage and increasing on-chain engagement remain key drivers for future growth, rather than relying solely on capital inflows.

Aave Partners with Blockdaemon to Expand Institutional DeFi Access

Decentralized finance protocol Aave has announced a strategic partnership with institutional staking infrastructure provider Blockdaemon. Together, they aim to enable institutional clients to participate in DeFi markets securely and efficiently, expanding compliant decentralized yield channels. The collaboration integrates Blockdaemon’s Earn Stack solution with Aave Labs’ Aave Vaults feature, providing institutions with one-stop liquidity management, yield generation, and risk control services, accelerating DeFi adoption at the institutional level.

This partnership marks a further convergence between DeFi and traditional institutional infrastructure. For Aave, it is a key step toward “institutional-grade DeFi,” facilitating the inflow of compliant capital and stable yield demand. For Blockdaemon, it represents a natural expansion from staking services to a broader DeFi yield ecosystem. The collaboration is expected to improve institutional liquidity and compliance experiences in DeFi and signals that “compliant DeFi” may become a critical growth point for integrating mainstream finance with on-chain finance.

Flying Tulip Announces First Public Sale Platform “Impossible,” Whitelist Now Open

Onchain exchange Flying Tulip recently announced that Impossible will serve as its first public sale partner, with sale details to be released in the coming days. The whitelist is now open for early registration. Previously, Flying Tulip completed a $200 million private fundraising round and plans to conduct an $800 million public sale at a $1 billion valuation, aiming to build a comprehensive DeFi platform integrating native stablecoins, lending, spot trading, derivatives trading, and on-chain insurance.

By opening the whitelist early and partnering with a professional platform, Flying Tulip can attract quality investors while mitigating public sale risks. Combined with prior private fundraising and high valuation plans, this demonstrates the team’s ambition to build a full-stack DeFi ecosystem. For the market, the emergence of such large-scale comprehensive platforms may trigger a new wave of concentrated capital and user attention, though long-term success will depend on the platform’s functional execution, user experience, and effective compliance management.

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
• CoinGecko, https://www.coingecko.com/categories
• Cointelegraph, https://cointelegraph.com/news/defi-tvl-record-237b-dapp-wallets-drop-22-q3-2025
• Crypto.news, https://crypto.news/aave-and-blockdaemon-partner-to-advance-institutional-access-to-defi/
• X, https://x.com/impossiblefi/status/1976369046640890172

Gate Research is a comprehensive blockchain and cryptocurrency research platform that provides deep content for readers, including technical analysis, market insights, industry research, trend forecasting, and macroeconomic policy analysis.

Disclaimer
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