Gate Research: Bitcoin Fails to Hold the $90,000 Level | RWA Sector TVL Surpasses DEX

Crypto Market Overview

BTC (-0.37% | Current price: 87,393 USDT): Bitcoin continues to trade within a narrow range of $86,000–$90,000, having been rejected near the $90,000 level four times since mid-December. Recent price action resembles a consolidation phase following volatility compression, rather than a continuation of a directional trend, with bulls and bears reaching a temporary balance. A decisive breakout above the $90,000–$92,000 resistance zone could reopen upside momentum. From an on-chain perspective, Bitcoin appears to be transitioning from a phase of aggressive selling to relative stabilization. A large number of spot buy orders from whale-sized participants are clustered around current price levels, in sharp contrast to the previous correction, which was dominated by retail activity while large players were largely absent. Sustained participation by spot whales typically reflects longer-term position building, especially in low-volatility, range-bound environments, suggesting that downside risk is gradually diminishing as stronger capital absorbs selling pressure. On the institutional front, spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded net outflows of approximately $782 million last week, indicating that institutional risk appetite remains cautious. A shift back to sustained ETF net inflows would be an important signal for trend confirmation and a potential market restart.

ETH (-0.35% | Current price: 2,936 USDT): Recent price action in Ethereum indicates a clear wait-and-see sentiment, with weakening bullish momentum but no decisive dominance from sellers. Over the past 24 hours, ETH failed to break the $3,000 psychological level and retreated toward $2,900, accompanied by rising trading volume, highlighting intensified two-sided positioning while follow-through buying remains limited. If buying interest can push ETH above and firmly hold $3,000, a new upward leg may unfold; otherwise, repeated failures could see price consolidate again around $2,900, rebuilding momentum through time rather than price. From an on-chain standpoint, exchange reserves for Ethereum declined for most of 2025, but have recently shown the first modest and consecutive increase in months. This shift may indicate that some traders are adjusting risk after prolonged consolidation, or that institutions are repositioning ahead of a potential volatility expansion—making it a development worth close monitoring.

Altcoins: Over the past 24 hours, altcoins have generally softened, with XRP down 0.73% and SOL down 0.61%. The Altcoin Season Index stands at 20, suggesting that while risk appetite has modestly rebounded from extreme lows, it remains firmly within an extremely cautious zone.

Macro: On December 29, the S&P 500 fell 0.35% to 6,905.74, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.51% to 48,461.93, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.50% to 23,474.35. As of 0:00 AM (UTC) on December 30, spot gold was trading at approximately $4,332 per ounce, sharply below its recent all-time high, and up 0.01% over the past 24 hours.

Trending Tokens

ZBT ZEROBASE (+61.82%, circulating market cap: $37.46M)

According to Gate market data, ZBT is currently trading at $0.1704, up 61.82% over the past 24 hours. ZEROBASE is a decentralized crypto infrastructure network that leverages zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) and trusted execution environments (TEE) to enable verifiable off-chain computation. It supports products such as zkStaking, zkLogin, and ProofYield, bridging institutional DeFi, user privacy, and real-world asset strategies.

The rally in ZEROBASE is mainly driven by sector rotation into privacy-focused tokens. Analysts note that privacy technologies could become a key competitive advantage by 2026, with ZEROBASE rising alongside projects such as TokenFi (+66.4%). Its zero-knowledge–based architecture aligns well with the compliance needs of DeFi.

ONT Ontology (+21.34%, circulating market cap: $66.90M)

According to Gate market data, ONT is currently priced at $0.07228, up 21.34% in the past 24 hours. Ontology is a next-generation public blockchain and distributed trust collaboration platform, featuring a complete distributed ledger and smart contract system. Its architecture supports a public-chain network framework, offering not only base-layer public chain services but also the ability to customize application-specific public chains via the Ontology blockchain framework, enabling cross-chain collaboration through multiple protocol groups.

ONT’s rise reflects a combination of deflationary tokenomics and high-profile partnerships. On December 1, the Ontology community approved a proposal to reduce the total supply of ONG by 20% and permanently lock assets worth 100 million ONG. This deflationary mechanism helps reduce selling pressure and aligns with Ontology’s roadmap for sustainable staking rewards. On December 4, Palantir launched the Chain Reaction AI platform together with Ontology, NVIDIA, and CenterPoint Energy, focusing on AI infrastructure for energy grids and data centers. The collaboration leverages Ontology’s decentralized identity solutions and enhances its credibility within the Web3 infrastructure space.

ZRX 0x Project (+27.80%, circulating market cap: $145M)

According to Gate market data, ZRX is currently trading at $0.1636, up 27.80% over the past 24 hours. 0x is an open-source, peer-to-peer protocol designed to facilitate the trading of ERC-20 tokens on the Ethereum blockchain. It aims to serve as an open standard and common building block to promote interoperability among decentralized applications (DApps), including exchange-related functionalities.

The surge in ZRX appears to be largely sentiment-driven. A tweet claiming that a trader achieved a 320% leveraged return on a ZRX/USDT perpetual contract on an exchange may have attracted significant follow-on trading. ZRX’s 24-hour spot trading volume jumped 489% to $118.8 million, with a volume-to-market-cap ratio of 0.74, indicating extremely high market activity.

Alpha Insights

RWA Sector TVL Surpasses DEX, Becomes the Fifth-Largest DeFi Category

As of December 29, the Real-World Assets (RWA) sector has emerged as one of the most prominent growth drivers in DeFi in 2025. By total value locked (TVL), RWA was not even among the top ten DeFi categories at the beginning of the year, but has now risen to become the fifth-largest segment, surpassing decentralized exchanges (DEXs). Current RWA TVL stands at approximately $17 billion, up significantly from around $12 billion in Q4 2024. RWA growth has been primarily driven by balance-sheet demand. In a high interest rate environment, tokenized U.S. Treasuries and private credit have become attractive on-chain yield assets, while improved regulatory clarity has reduced friction for institutional participation. Structurally, Ethereum remains the core network for RWA issuance and settlement, while permissioned networks such as Canton Network dominate on the institutional side.

This trend indicates that DeFi is evolving from a “trading-driven” model toward a “balance-sheet-driven” one. Institutional preferences for compliance, stable yields, and controlled risk are reshaping the on-chain ecosystem. As policy rates remain elevated and native on-chain yields compress, capital is increasingly flowing into RWA products such as tokenized Treasuries and private credit with predictable cash flows and real-asset backing. In addition, with rising gold and silver prices, tokenized commodities are attracting growing interest, positioning RWA to move from a “yield narrative” toward macro-level assets and neutral collateral by 2026.

Bitcoin Fails to Hold the $90,000 Level as New-Year Momentum Awaits Demand Recovery

After rebounding to $90,000 toward year-end, Bitcoin’s upward momentum has weakened, constrained by insufficient demand and softer on-chain activity. Recently, Bitcoin’s apparent demand (market buying demand minus newly issued selling supply) turned negative, falling to around -3,491 BTC—the lowest level since October—reflecting increased risk aversion during the year-end transition. Analysts suggest that only a sustained break above $90,000 accompanied by a recovery in demand could open the door to a new rally in early 2026.

The current tension lies in the disconnect between long-term bullish expectations (including forecasts of a 2026 bull market) and weak near-term demand. Bridging this gap will require catalysts such as renewed ETF inflows or a macro-driven rebound in risk appetite. Without a timely recovery in demand, Bitcoin may continue to range between $84,000 and $90,000, or even face deeper pullback risks. A true trend reversal will require confirmation from both capital flows and market sentiment.

Silver Prices Surge to Record Highs as Tokenized Silver Trading Explodes

Interest in silver is rapidly extending into tokenized markets. As silver prices repeatedly set new all-time highs throughout the month amid increased volatility, on-chain trading activity has risen in tandem with futures and ETF markets. Data from RWA.xyz shows that the tokenized version of the iShares Silver Trust (SLV) recorded a more than 1,200% increase in monthly transfer volume over the past 30 days, with the number of holders up roughly 300% and net asset value rising by nearly 40%.

From a fundamental perspective, silver’s price rally has been driven by a combination of supply constraints, structural demand growth, and supportive macro conditions. The surge in tokenized silver activity highlights investors’ growing preference for low-threshold, divisible, and 24/7 tradable asset formats. This shift further reinforces RWA’s role as a defensive allocation tool and supports greater liquidity and institutional acceptance of tokenized commodities.


References

• Gate, https://www.gate.com/trade/BTC_USDT
• Farside Investors, https://farside.co.uk/btc/
• Gate, https://www.gate.com/trade/ETH_USDT
• Cointelegraph, https://cointelegraph.com/news/rwas-surpassed-dexs-defi-tvl
• Cointelegraph, https://cointelegraph.com/news/btc-price-pauses-90k-what-will-trigger-new-year-rally
• CoinDesk, https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2025/12/29/tokenized-silver-volumes-explode-as-metal-s-price-rises-to-record

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
Investing in cryptocurrency markets involves high risk. Users are advised to conduct their own research and fully understand the nature of the assets and products before making any investment decisions. Gate is not responsible for any losses or damages arising from such decisions.