TL;DR

• The U.S. 2025Q3 GDP surpassed expectations and showed resilience, which lowered the expectations for Fed rate cut in 2026.
• This week’s incoming data includes BLS December jobs report, the JOLTS, ADP Employment Report, ISM PMIs and Michigan consumer confidence survey.
• BTC and ETH both gained in price, up 4.13% and 6.61% respectively; ETF flows turned positive after two weeks of outflows ($458.7M into BTC ETFs, $160.6M into ETH ETFs), while market sentiment remained in Extreme Fear at 26.
• Total crypto market cap went up 4.82%; excluding BTC and ETH, market cap rose 5.47%, and excluding the top 10, it climbed 7.7%, highlighting stronger altcoin performance.
• Memecoins led all sectors, driven by notable moves in PEPE and NERIO on Ethereum, alongside BONK and PENGU on Solana.
• Top-30 assets rebounded solidly, led by DOGE, SHIB, and WLFI, with WLFI boosted by its MMA partnership and Binance’s USD1 integration.
• Vitalik Buterin outlines how PeerDAS and ZK-EVMs redefine Ethereum’s scaling.
• BlackRock’s BUIDL fund has distributed $100M, a concrete signal that tokenized money-market products are operating at institutional scale — not just pilots.
• Grayscale files for a Bittensor trust ETF, marking growing institutional appetite for decentralized AI exposure via regulated vehicles.

Macro Overview

The US 2025Q3 GDP surpassed expectations and showed resilience, which lowered the expectations for Fed rate cut in 2026.

The quarter-on-quarter annualized growth rate of US GDP in Q3 2025 rose from 3.8% in Q2 to 4.3%, exceeding Bloomberg’s consensus estimate of 3.3%. Year-over-year growth increased by 0.2pps to 2.3%. By component, the effects of tariffs on inventory and net exports persisted. Excluding these distortions, the growth rate of private consumption + investment, a measure of underlying economic momentum, edged up from 2.9% to 3.0%. The stronger-than-expected GDP growth led to a pullback in expectations for Fed rate cuts in 2026.

From a breakdown of GDP components, household consumption continued to recover, private investment (excluding inventory) slowed marginally, and government investment and consumption rebounded significantly. Specifically, household consumption growth accelerated from 2.5% to 3.5%, contributing 2.4pps to GDP, indicating strong resilience in US consumer spending as tariff effects faded. Private investment (excluding inventory) growth slowed from 4.4% to 1.0%, reflecting a moderation in AI-related investments and continued weakness in residential investment. Export growth rebounded, while tariff implementation and reduced pre-importing led to slower import growth, narrowing the trade deficit and contributing 1.6pps to GDP in Q3. Looking ahead, Q4 is expected to see technical deceleration due to the government shutdown. The CBO estimates that the shutdown could lower GDP’s annualized quarterly growth rate by over 1pp; and this gap will likely be offset in Q1 2026 without affecting the economy’s underlying trend.

This week’s incoming data includes BLS December jobs report, the JOLTS, the ADP Employment Report, ISM PMIs and Michigan consumer confidence survey. The December jobs report is expected to show nonfarm payrolls rising by about 55,000, down from 64,000 in November, while the unemployment rate is seen edging lower to 4.5% from a more than four-year high of 4.6%. The ISM surveys are likely to signal another month of contraction in manufacturing and a modest slowdown in services activity, while the Michigan sentiment data is expected to show broadly stable consumer morale at the start of the year. (1, 2)

The US dollar began 2026 stronger on Friday, as investors look ahead to a critical week of economic data that could steer Federal Reserve policy and global markets. (3)

Last week, US Treasury yields moved higher as the markets looked ahead to next week’s spate of employment data for indications of economic health into 2026. The yield on US 10-year notes rose to 4.195% and the 30-year bond yield rose to 4.871%. (4)

Last week the gold price had a significant adjustment on Monday, and later landed at above $4,300 level. The gold price logged a 64% increase in 2025, significantly outperforming other types of investments. (5)

Crypto Markets Overview

1. Main Assets

BTC rose 4.13% over the past week, while ETH outperformed with a 6.61% gain. After two consecutive weeks of net outflows, BTC ETFs recorded a $458.7M inflow, and ETH ETFs also turned positive with $160.58M in inflows. (6)

The ETH/BTC ratio climbed 2.35% to 0.034, reflecting ETH’s relative strength. Market sentiment was largely unchanged from the prior week, remaining in the Extreme Fear zone with a reading of 26. (7)

2. Total Market Cap

Total crypto market capitalization rose 4.82% over the week. Excluding BTC and ETH, market cap increased by 5.47%, while the broader altcoin segment excluding the top 10 by market cap outperformed further, gaining 7.7%. This divergence highlights a relative strengthening across the altcoin market.

Memecoins were the strongest-performing category over the period, led by tokens such as PEPE and NERIO on Ethereum, alongside BONK and PENGU on Solana.

3. Top 30 Crypto Assets Performance

The top 30 cryptocurrencies by market cap staged a broad rebound last week, with prices rising 5.66% on average. DOGE, SHIB, and WLFI led the advance, with WLFI ranking third overall and posting a 14.8% gain.

WLFI’s outperformance was driven by two key catalysts. First, World Liberty Financial’s strategic partnership with MMA Group signaled its expansion into sports technology, aiming to build a digital ecosystem spanning athletes, events, and global fans. Second, Binance’s integration of WLFI’s USD1 stablecoin, replacing BUSD across trading, liquidity, and collateral systems, materially increased USD1’s distribution and visibility, supporting WLFI’s momentum. (8) (9)

The Key Crypto Highlights

1. Vitalik outlines how PeerDAS and ZK-EVMs redefine Ethereum’s scaling

Vitalik Buterin argued that the combination of PeerDAS now live on mainnet and production-grade ZK-EVM performance marks a structural shift for Ethereum, enabling decentralization, consensus, and high bandwidth simultaneously. He framed this as a decade-long effort finally delivering a new class of network, with safety work on ZK-EVMs remaining. Looking ahead, Ethereum expects staged gas limit increases, ZK-EVM-based validation, and more distributed block building, reshaping execution, data availability, and validator economics over the next four years. (10)

2. BlackRock’s BUIDL distributes $100M, validating tokenized finance at scale

BlackRock’s tokenized money market fund, BUIDL, has distributed $100M in cumulative dividends since its March 2024 launch, demonstrating tokenized finance operating at institutional scale. Issued and administered onchain by Securitize, the fund channels real Treasury yields to token holders through programmable distributions while maintaining daily liquidity. With assets surpassing $2B and multi-chain expansion beyond Ethereum to Solana, Aptos, Avalanche and Optimism, BUIDL provides a live case study of how blockchain infrastructure can replicate and streamline core functions of traditional asset management. (11)

3. Grayscale files for Bittensor trust ETF to tap decentralized AI demand

Grayscale submitted a preliminary S-1 filing to the SEC for a Bittensor-focused trust that could convert into a spot ETF under the ticker GTAO, offering regulated exposure to the TAO token. The move signals growing institutional interest in decentralized AI infrastructure, where Bittensor uses crypto incentives to coordinate open-source model development. If approved, GTAO would lower barriers for investors seeking AI-themed crypto exposure without direct token custody, though regulatory approval remains uncertain amid heightened SEC scrutiny of crypto ETFs. (12)

Key Ventures Deals

1. SQRIL secures Tether backing to unify QR code payments across borders

Tether has invested in SQRIL, a Southeast Asia–based startup building a real-time Scan-to-Pay QR payment switch that enables cross-border payments across Asia, Africa and Latin America. SQRIL’s API allows banks, neobanks and e-wallets to let users pay foreign merchants via local QR codes while settling FX and payouts in local currency. The move aligns with rising adoption of national QR schemes and stablecoins in emerging markets, positioning SQRIL as infrastructure for interoperable, real-time retail payments beyond traditional card networks. (13)

2. AIAV raises $4M Seed round to build decentralized AI avatar infrastructure

AIAV raised a $4M Seed round co-led by Animoca Brands and DuckDAO with Castrum Capital, Bedrock Ventures and other investors to advance its decentralized AI avatar platform. Built on a decentralized learning framework and data-to-value pipeline, AIAV lets users own, train and monetize AI models from real conversations. As AI adoption raises data ownership and incentive challenges, the round reflects demand for Web3-native AI systems that return control and economic value to users. (14)

3. Cango raises $10.5M Strategic round to expand mining, energy and AI compute

Cango secured a $10.5M strategic follow-on investment from Enduring Wealth Capital Limited, increasing EWCL’s ownership and voting stake through a Class B share subscription. The capital supports scaling Bitcoin mining efficiency while advancing parallel initiatives in energy and AI compute infrastructure. As miners seek diversification beyond pure hashpower economics, the investment reflects confidence in Cango’s strategy to evolve into an integrated digital infrastructure platform aligned with long-term demand for energy- and compute-intensive workloads. (15)

Ventures Market Metrics

The number of deals closed in the previous week was 4, with Infra and Data having 2 deals each, representing 50% of the total number of deals.

The total amount of disclosed funding raised in the previous week was $17M, 1/4 deals in the previous week didn’t announce the raised amount. The top funding came from the Data sector with $13M. Most funded deals: Cango ($10.5M), AIAV ($4M)

Total weekly fundraising fell to $17M for the 1st week of Jan-2026, a decrease of -94% compared to the week prior. Weekly fundraising in the previous week was down -18% year over year for the same period.

About Gate Ventures

Gate Ventures, the venture capital arm of Gate.com, 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.

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The content herein does not constitute any offer, solicitation, or recommendation. You should always seek independent professional advice before making any investment decisions. Please note that Gate Ventures may restrict or prohibit the use of all or a portion of the services from restricted locations. For more information, please read its applicable user agreement.

Reference

1. Week Ahead — Jan 5th, https://tradingeconomics.com/calendar?article=29332&g=top&importance=2&startdate=2026-01-02&source=headline
2. US GDP quarterly growth, Tradingview, https://www.tradingview.com/chart/QOz7i3JC/?symbol=ECONOMICS%3AUSGDPQQ
3. DXY Index, TradingView, https://www.tradingview.com/chart/z1UD772v/?symbol=TVC%3ADXY
4. US 10 Year Bond Yield, TradingView, https://www.tradingview.com/chart/z1UD772v/?symbol=TVC%3AUS10Y
5. Gold Price, TradingView, https://www.tradingview.com/chart/z1UD772v/?symbol=TVC%3AGOLD
6. BTC & ETH ETF Inflow, https://sosovalue.com/tc/assets/etf/us-btc-spot
7. BTC Greed and Fear Index, https://alternative.me/crypto/fear-and-greed-index/
8. USD1 x MMA Group Partnership, https://coinmarketcap.com/community/articles/6954286ad088932b1d3483d3/
9. USD1 integration on Binance, https://coinmarketcap.com/community/articles/69548627bb028f62c09399c4/
10. Vitalik outlines how PeerDAS and ZK-EVMs redefine Ethereum’s scaling,
    https://x.com/VitalikButerin/status/2007559523528233041
11. BlackRock’s BUIDL distributes $100M, validating tokenized finance at scale,
    https://cointelegraph.com/news/blackrock-buidl-100m-dividends-tokenized-treasuries
12. Grayscale files for Bittensor trust ETF to tap decentralized AI demand,
    https://www.crowdfundinsider.com/2026/01/257026-grayscale-investments-focuses-on-decentralized-ai-with-bittensor-trust-etf-filing/
13. SQRIL secures Tether backing to unify QR code payments across borders, https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/01/02/3212268/0/en/Tether-backs-startup-SQRIL-the-first-real-time-crossborder-Scan-to-Pay-QR-code-payment-switch-for-Asia-Africa-and-Latin-America.html?_gl=1*8xc3v3*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTYxMTMzNDIxNy4xNzY3NTM5NDgw*_ga_ERWPGTJ5X8*czE3Njc1Mzk0ODAkbzEkZzAkdDE3Njc1Mzk0ODAkajYwJGwwJGgw
14. AIAV raises $4M Seed round to build decentralized AI avatar infrastructure, https://x.com/aiav_ai/status/1995664211335426449?s=46
15. Cango raises $10.5M Strategic round to expand mining, energy and AI compute, https://www.eqs-news.com/news/corporate-news/cango-inc-secures-us-10-5-million-investment-from-ewcl-to-accelerate-growth/1b4bea59-68bd-4eb8-896e-06b59cada3f3_en