Gate Research Institute: Polygon Leads x402 Intelligent Agent Payment Transactions | Gate TradFi Trading Volume Surpasses $10 Billion

Cryptocurrency Market Overview

• BTC (+0.85% | Current price 89,342 USDT): BTC has shown a volatile correction trend over the past day, with prices repeatedly tugging within the 88,800–89,800 USD range. The rebound after the 26th’s sharp decline continues, but selling pressure remains above. The moving average system has shifted from bearish to bullish, with MA5, MA10, and MA30 forming a bullish alignment, and the current price trading above these three moving averages, indicating a short-term bullish trend that is still in the recovery phase. MACD is above the zero line and maintains a golden cross, with red bars gradually enlarging, suggesting short-term bullish momentum is dominant. Overall, if BTC can hold steady above 89,000 USD and volume breaks above 90,000 USD, it may further challenge the previous high near 91,200 USD; conversely, if it falls back below the support zone of 88,800–88,400 USD, caution should be taken for a potential reversal and testing the 87,000 USD level.
• ETH (+2.75% | Current price 3,013 USDT): ETH experienced a rally followed by a pullback over the past day, entering a high-level consolidation phase. Prices repeatedly hover around the 3,000 USD mark, with short-term volatility more sensitive than BTC. The moving average system shows a clear strengthening structure, with MA5 crossing above MA10 and both trending upward, and MA30 also beginning to rise, indicating a shift from correction to a more bullish trend, though resistance remains near previous highs. MACD is above the zero line and maintains a golden cross, with red bars expanding but at a slowing rate, indicating bullish momentum is still favorable but the chasing force is cooling. Overall, if ETH can hold above 3,000 USD and push above the 3,050–3,070 USD range, it may open up further upside; if it falls below the support zone of 2,990–2,950 USD, attention should be paid to the potential pullback toward around 2,900 USD.
• Altcoins: The Fear & Greed Index is currently at 29, in the “Fear” zone, but has rebounded from extreme fear levels seen last week and last month, indicating a marginal recovery in risk appetite.
• Macro: On January 27, the S&P 500 rose 0.41% to 6,978.60 points; the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.83% to 49,003.41 points; the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.91% to 23,817.10 points. As of 10:30 AM (UTC+8) on January 28, spot gold is temporarily quoted at 5,215 USD per ounce, up 0.68% within 24 hours.

Hot Tokens in the Market

PIPPIN Pippin (+63.83%, Market Cap $494 million)

According to Gate data, the current PIPPIN token price is $0.49885, up approximately 63.83% in 24 hours. Pippin is an SVG unicorn image generated based on ChatGPT-4o’s latest LLM benchmark. The project was created by Yohei Nakajima and is known for its build-in-public style and practices related to “AI for VC,” having sparked widespread discussion when open-sourcing BabyAGI in March 2023 (an autonomous agent paradigm centered on task planning loops).

The rapid surge of PIPPIN this round is more likely driven by a resonance of market sentiment and technical factors rather than fundamental news: from the daily chart, the price has clearly broken above MA5/10/30, experienced sideways consolidation after an initial surge, and recently tested and approached the upper boundary of the range. Coupled with increased trading volume, this can easily trigger chasing buying and short covering, accelerating the rise.

BNKR BankrCoin (+60.34%, Market Cap $37 million)

According to Gate data, BNKR is currently priced at $0.0003765, up 60.34% in 24 hours. BankrCoin is a token narrative derived from the BankrBot ecosystem, with core selling points focusing on turning “AI agents + multi-chain DeFi infrastructure + automated trading/operations” into callable toolchains.

The significant rise of BNKR is more likely due to a combination of “product updates generating buzz + capital chasing the AI narrative.” On one hand, related tweets from Bankr have released information about “plugin launches, direct installation, extendability to trading and automation,” which can trigger developer and speculative interest simultaneously. On the other hand, community-shared content mentioning clawdbot generating high transaction fees in a short period, and screenshots of personal trading returns, reinforce market imagination around “increased on-chain activity and accelerated trading,” thereby attracting FOMO capital inflows.

XRD Radix (+52.68%, Market Cap $39.82 million)

According to Gate data, XRD is currently at $0.002988, up about 52.68% in 24 hours. XRD is a public chain project centered on “asset-first” and composable DeFi narratives, emphasizing the secure expression of native assets and transaction semantics, with ongoing iterations around wallet and application interaction experiences.

The rapid rise of XRD more reflects “the release of product and roadmap news” that boosts market sentiment and capital inflow. On one hand, the wallet’s focus on “human-readable transactions, full review of asset flows and actions before signing” has garnered attention amid recent frequent on-chain security incidents, raising user expectations for interaction safety and asset control. On the other hand, updates such as the public testing of Hyperscale, ecosystem season review, and governance mechanism advancement strengthen market expectations for network performance and ecosystem development entering the next phase, thus driving short-term trading enthusiasm.

Alpha Insights

Tether Launches USD Stablecoin USAT, Dual-Track Strategy of Regulatory Layering and Channel Expansion

Tether announced the official launch of USAT, a stablecoin backed 1:1 by USD and regulated under federal oversight, designed according to the framework established by the 《GENIUS Act》 for federal stablecoins. The coin is issued by Anchorage Digital Bank, with Bo Hines appointed as USAT Business CEO, and Cantor Fitzgerald designated as reserve custodian and preferred Tier 1 dealer. USAT is positioned more as “a stablecoin infrastructure for domestic payments and compliant channels,” while USDT will continue to operate as the core product line for global scenarios—essentially splitting “regulated scenarios” and “global circulation scenarios” into two tracks: one serving stricter access and custody requirements, and the other maintaining existing network effects and broad availability.

From a business logic perspective, Tether’s need to introduce a “framework-compliant stablecoin” is not to replace USDT but to incorporate institutions, payments, and stricter clearing/custody systems via a compliant shell: on one hand, Tether disclosed that in 2025 it recorded approximately $15 billion in profits, reflecting its ability to earn interest margins on high-quality reserves; on the other hand, its flagship USDT had a market cap of about $187 billion as of early January 2026, with daily trading volumes reportedly significantly surpassing its peers, indicating that “global network effects” remain a moat. Meanwhile, Tether’s reserve structure and asset allocation are evolving toward a “quasi-financial group” model: beyond cash equivalents and bonds, it also holds Bitcoin and gold, and continues expanding investments into data infrastructure, resources, and real industries. Placing Cantor Fitzgerald as reserve custodian and Tier 1 dealer further strengthens its connection with traditional market-making and custody systems—offering external narratives of compliance and transparency, and internal reinforcement of channels and liquidity efficiency.

Gate TradFi Trading Volume Surpasses $10 Billion, Gold Reaches New All-Time High

According to latest Gate TradFi data, the international gold price has hit a new all-time high, reaching a peak of $5,225.14 per ounce in the past 24 hours; since early 2026, it has increased by over $910, a rise of more than 20%. Amid risk aversion sentiment and price trends, multi-asset trading demand continues to be released. Meanwhile, since its public beta launch, Gate TradFi’s total trading volume has exceeded $10 billion, with user participation and activity steadily rising, indicating traditional asset trading on the platform is accelerating and gaining scale.

Gate TradFi allows users to directly trade traditional financial products within the same platform, covering precious metals, forex, global stock CFDs, major indices, and commodities, further integrating crypto and traditional asset strategies. In terms of products and experience, the platform has expanded the range of tradable assets, offering up to 500x fixed leverage on metals, indices, forex, and commodities, with more competitive fee structures to reduce trading costs. These features are now fully integrated into the Gate App, enabling users to participate conveniently in global asset price movements without switching platforms, expanding hedging, rotation, and diversified allocation opportunities beyond the crypto market.

Polygon Leads x402 Agentic Payment Trading Volume, Base Continues Weak for 8 Days

According to Artemis data, in the x402 agentic payment dimension, Polygon’s daily trading volume has been higher than Base for the eighth consecutive day. Analyzing recent three-month on-chain transaction structure changes shows: early on, Base contributed the majority of volume and gradually declined after reaching a high; mid-term, Solana’s share increased steadily, creating a “Base weakening, Solana strengthening” structural rebalancing; recently, Polygon’s incremental volume has become more prominent, surpassing Base in the short term and maintaining consecutive wins.

This lead appears more as a result of “payment routing and application migration” rather than mere market fluctuation: when call-based billing becomes the default paradigm, developers and aggregators will focus more on transaction cost per unit, confirmation experience, failure/retry costs, and integration efficiency with payment intent standards; if a chain demonstrates superior settlement stability, predictable fees, or ecosystem incentives, it can quickly attract marginal traffic in high-frequency, small-value, automated agentic payment scenarios. If Polygon can continue converting advantages into more stable SDK/payment components and merchant adoption, its lead could further expand; otherwise, if genuine payment demand does not materialize, short-term surges may revert to event-driven volatility.
References:

• Gate, https://www.gate.com/trade/BTC_USDT](https://www.gate.com/trade/BTC_USDT](https://www.gate.io/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](https://investing.com/indices/usa-indices](https://investing.com/indices/usa-indices))
• Investing, https://investing.com/currencies/xau-usd](https://investing.com/currencies/xau-usd](https://investing.com/currencies/xau-usd))
• X, https://x.com/Cointelegraph/status/2016292864989208640?s=20

Disclaimer Investing in cryptocurrencies involves high risk. Users are advised to conduct independent 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 resulting from such investment decisions.