Tired of dipping, what to look for?

• Policies: Diluted by Impulse, Bullish in the Long Run
• Market: Whirling Between Casino, Yield, and Value
• Blockchains: When High TPS Becomes a Commodity

Projects: New and Interesting Ones Only

1) Internet Framework Innovation

2) Bridging Web2 and Web3

3) Putting BTC (Really) to Work

4) Serving Incoming TradFi

5) Act like You’re Non-Crypto

Policies: Diluted by Impulse, Bullish in the Long Run

BTC National Reserve Impact?

• Trump’s proposed BTC reserve lacks congressional approval and risks being reversed by the next administration. Its direct market impact may be limited due to existing U.S. BTC exposure, as they are more likely to take BTC from balance sheets rather than buy from the open market. However, this move could significantly influence corporate and international strategies.

Crypto reserve may dilute BTC value:

• Mixing BTC with other crypto reserves could weaken its position. If a crypto reserve is framed as a dollar backing (let’s hope not), it would raise concerns about USD stability, and driving higher rates. Now, Trump’s policy seems very self-interested.

Broader ETF markets and More types:

• stETH ETF is under development—a boost for ETH staking if approved. $SOL ETF this year is also highly likely, many “Microstrategy” for Solana are emerging, driving staking interest. Growing attention in $BTC ETF access for Chinese investors (huge question mark), but with custodians well-positioned.

Funds and talent will flow in over time because macro policy, regardless of short-term volatility.

Market: Whirling Between Casino, Yield, and Value

There are two dominant types of traders:

1. Casino Gamblers – chasing 1000x leverage in PvP battles.
2. Yield Farmers – seeking steady, low-risk returns.

Anyone in between contributes little volume but could change over time.

Type 1 Gamblers: “Protect Our Fair Casino!”

• Solana meme had a PMF, but after series rugs of Trump, Melania, and Libra, plus insider trading, damaged market liquidity, and more importantly, the fairness of the casino. DEXs now try to restore trust via sniper sorting, Dutch auctions, and forcing community airdrops, trying to bring back volume once macro shifts.

Type 2 Whales: “Win Our Trust by Security and Time”

• Yield farmers with a low-risk appetite won’t chase an extra 10% APY when there’s a risk of going to zero. Ethereum still leads in TVL and security history, while others are working hard. Yields come from DEX emission, lending fees, hedging, T-bills and more—each with its own risk layers. Best projects are trying to reach an intricate balance between the yield and risk, and talk the LPs into it.

Type 3 Value-Seekers: “Emerge Under a Clearer Regulatory Framework”

The blossom of legitimate on-chain assets, such as Web2 company onchian listing and RWAs, depend on regulatory clarity. Once clear rules emerge, value investing will take shape—when revenue buybacks are no longer minimal compared to its market cap and tokens serve real utility, attracting value-seeking investors on-chain.

Blockchains: When High TPS Becomes a Commodity

Solana:

@solana ‘s biggest moat is its perfect PMF, now expanding to political and broader advantage.

Price dictates perception—SIMD-0228 is designed to support SOL’s price long-term by associating staking rates with emissions. Imagine a SOL ETF → More staking → Lower emissions → Stronger price stability.

DEXs on Solana are addressing liquidity drains and trust issues, while perpetuals leverage rollups/ephemeral rollups to enhance performance (@ZetaMarkets, @magicblock). Meanwhile, @ranger_finance aggregates perps.

Banking, payments, and stablecoins are expanding rapidly:

• @meow offers yield-generating U.S. business checking accounts.

• @sphere_labs provides cheaper off-ramping alternatives compared to Coinbase.

• @Perena__ is building top-tier infrastructure for stablecoins.

Challenges:

1) Protect a fair casino

2) Strengthening DeFi liquidity and robustness

3) Ensuring network stability and security for institutional adoption

Hyperliquid

@HyperliquidX ‘s best moat is its killer app.

Now, HyperEVM is live—network revenue comes from not only platform and auction fees but also EVM gas fees. Although this hasn’t yet reflected in token price, it unlocks new $HYPE utilities (gas, lending, staking, and yield mechanisms). High-cap native assets like spot BTC are finally arriving.

Challenges:

1) Hard to maintain an open ecosystem when its native DEXs and perps compete with others.

2) Security risks—Bybit’s multisig had 4 signers and got rugged, while HyperLiquid has only 2.

Monad:

@monad_xyz ‘s moat is Hyper-EVM + Open Ecosystem.

Monad’s testnet has shown steady growth, reaching 120 TPS with no slowdown. While the ecosystem is still in its infancy, openness is crucial to building a more organic environment, avoiding the “king-made” effect seen in other ecosystems. The community has organically grown through projects like Molandak NFTs.

Future: outlook for killer apps in DeFi, consumer, AI, payment, etc.

Projects: New and Interesting Ones Only

Internet Framework Innovation

1.Scalability often sacrifices decentralization and security, but @doublezero is developing a blockchain-agnostic, base-layer connectivity framework. It optimizes blockchain performance by filtering inbound transactions before reaching validators and improving outbound message routing.

Bridging Web2 and Web3

2.PoW companies have gone public, but no PoS companies have followed. Blockchains need legitimate, reputable validators with a track record. A validator-as-a-service model could bridge regulated public entities and blockchains.

Putting BTC (Really) to Work

3.On-chain BTC is either sitting idle, earning minimal yield in lending, or receiving alt inflationary rewards. @yieldbasis is where enabling real BTC-based yield through an AMM with minimized IL.

Serving Incoming TradFi

4.Stablecoins remain the most lucrative business in crypto, but Web2 companies face hurdles around regulation, on/off-ramps, and security. @BastionPlatform has secured an NYDFS license, positioning itself as a stablecoin issuer for Web2 giants.

Act like You’re Non-Crypto

5.Crypto’s biggest edge is its liquidity. @megapot_io is building the largest online jackpot platform, its API serves as a user retention tool for Web2 companies, and on the other hand, could provide linear-growth yield for its stablecoins LP.

Disclaimer:

1. This article is reprinted from [Rui]. All copyrights belong to the original author [Rui]. If there are objections to this reprint, please contact the Gate Learn team, and they will handle it promptly.
2. Liability Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not constitute any investment advice.
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