Gate Research Institute: Vitalik Reshapes L2 Development Path | Gate Ventures Strategic Investment in Mesh

Cryptocurrency Market Overview

• BTC (+0.71% | Current Price 76,449 USDT): Bitcoin has continued its technical correction after a low-volatility consolidation over the past day. The price quickly rebounded from around $72,900 and has now returned above $76,000, but overall remains within the weak zone following the previous decline. Regarding moving averages, MA5 has crossed above MA10, but both are still below MA30, indicating a short-term rebound is underway, but the medium-term trend has not yet reversed. MACD is rising after a bullish crossover below the zero line, with green bars narrowing, suggesting bullish momentum is recovering but not yet strong. If BTC can volume-ably hold above the $76,800–$77,200 resistance zone, it may further test $78,500; if it falls below $75,000 again, a retest of the recent low near $73,000 is possible.
• ETH (+0.94% | Current Price 2,262 USDT): ETH’s movement is similar to BTC but with a slightly stronger rebound slope. The price has risen from a low of $2,108 to above $2,260, showing a short-term oscillating recovery pattern. Moving averages show MA5 approaching and attempting to cross above MA10, but overall still under MA30, indicating a weak medium-term trend. MACD has formed a bullish crossover below the zero line, with decreasing green momentum bars, signaling a technical correction phase. If ETH can break through the $2,300–$2,320 zone with increased volume, the rebound may extend to around $2,380; if it falls back below $2,200, a retest of the $2,100 support area is likely.
• Altcoins: The latest fear index reading is 14, falling into the “Extreme Fear” zone, significantly lower than last week and last month, indicating market risk appetite has further deteriorated, and short-term sentiment is near a cyclical bottom.
• Macro: As of February 3, the S&P 500 fell 0.84% to 6,917.81 points; the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.34% to 49,240.99 points; the Nasdaq dropped 1.43% to 23,255.19 points. As of 10:30 AM (UTC+8) on February 4, spot gold is temporarily priced at $5,055 per ounce, up 2.20% in the past 24 hours.

Hot Tokens to Watch

ARC AI Rig Complex (+58.78%, Market Cap $75.13 million)

According to Gate data, ARC token is currently priced at $0.07350, up approximately 58.78% in 24 hours. AI Rig Complex revolves around the concept of “Rig,” a development and collaboration framework aimed at AI builders, emphasizing establishing a continuous feedback loop between creators and AI systems. The narrative stems from developer community discussions on next-generation AI frameworks and toolchains, with the core idea of modular “Rig” structures enabling developers to train, debug, and combine AI capabilities more efficiently, forming a symbiotic cycle of “We build Rig, Rig in turn shapes us.”

The recent surge in ARC is driven more by capital flow and structural speculation rather than clear fundamental progress. Structurally, the price has entered a low-volatility zone after a prior decline, recently breaking through short-term moving averages with increased volume and quickly moving out of consolidation. Coupled with a relatively small market cap and concentrated holdings, it is prone to accelerated upward movement under emotional catalysts.

ALCH Alchemist AI (+17.99%, Market Cap $83.75 million)

According to Gate data, ALCH is currently priced at $0.09920, up 17.99% in 24 hours. Alchemist AI focuses on infrastructure for AI workflows and automation execution, emphasizing visual construction, debugging, and deployment of AI workflows for developers and the “build in public” community. The project aims to modularize complex multi-step AI task processes, providing shareable workflows, reproducible execution logs, and smoother debugging experiences to lower the barriers for developing AI Agents and automation processes.

The recent rise of ALCH is also driven more by sentiment and structural resonance rather than a single major fundamental event. The token experienced a prior correction and sideways movement before volume breakout, with increased trading activity attracting short-term capital inflow. The ongoing activity in AI infrastructure and agent toolchains makes projects with clear product narratives and community exposure more attractive for capital concentration.

ENSO Enso (+9.12%, Market Cap $26.16 million)

According to Gate data, ENSO is currently priced at $1.2424, up about 9.12% in 24 hours. Enso is positioned as on-chain execution infrastructure, aiming to help protocols and applications build cross-chain, cross-protocol complex transactions and fund flows through a single integrated interface. It emphasizes “execution quality” as a key bottleneck in DeFi product experience, using simulation-driven path optimization and execution abstraction to enable developers to perform multi-step on-chain operations like aggregation, fund scheduling, and yield strategy deployment without connecting to multiple protocols.

ENSO’s recent rise is more influenced by thematic hype and structural capital rather than a single fundamental breakthrough. The token broke through short-term resistance after consolidating, with increased volume, and its small market cap allows for high price elasticity, making it susceptible to phase acceleration under narrative catalysts. Additionally, market attention to themes like “execution layer,” “cross-chain abstraction,” and “one-stop DeFi operations” has increased, providing a fertile environment for capital speculation.

Alpha Insights

Puell Multiple enters discount zone, signaling medium- to long-term miner positioning under pressure

Bitcoin’s Puell Multiple has again fallen into its historical “discount zone.” This indicator, often called the “Miner Revenue Multiple” or “Miner Profitability Indicator,” measures how much miners are earning daily relative to the past year’s average. When the value is low, it indicates miners’ overall income is significantly below normal, profitability is declining, and some high-cost mining farms may be forced to shut down or sell their BTC holdings to maintain cash flow, exerting passive selling pressure on the market. From a cycle perspective, such phases often mark a “clearing period,” with short-term supply pressure rising but also helping to reallocate holdings from high-cost miners to long-term holders.

Historically, Puell Multiple tends to stay low during the mid to late bear market stages, rather than early stages of a new bull run. In other words, the indicator suggests: “Miners are earning less overall, industry is in a tough period.” While this gradually makes Bitcoin’s long-term valuation more attractive, it does not mean prices will immediately reverse upward. The market may still experience weak consolidation or retest lows. Therefore, this is more a phase of slowly emerging value with an unhealed trend, favoring phased accumulation and controlled pacing. A full bull market requires demand recovery and macro liquidity improvement.

Gate Ventures strategic investment in Mesh, building crypto payment infrastructure

Gate Ventures announced a strategic investment in the crypto payment network Mesh. Mesh is developing a unified payment connection layer, integrating wallets, exchanges, payment service providers, and fiat on/off ramps via a single API, reducing system complexity between crypto assets and traditional payment systems, and improving cross-platform fund transfer efficiency.

Gate Ventures notes that as stablecoins and native crypto payments evolve into new financial infrastructure, industry fragmentation becomes more prominent. Mesh abstracts multiple payment channels into a unified layer, enabling seamless cross-ecosystem and cross-region settlement and value transfer, supporting merchants, payment providers, and AI automation scenarios, with potential to become a key hub connecting traditional finance and on-chain economy.

Vitalik re-evaluates L2 positioning, shifting from “brand sharding” to functional differentiation

Vitalik Buterin stated on X that as Ethereum L1 scaling accelerates and gas limits are expected to significantly increase by 2026, the original positioning of L2 as “Ethereum brand sharding” is losing its practical basis. Meanwhile, the progress of L2 towards a mature decentralized stage is slower than expected, making it difficult for L2 to assume a role equivalent to shard chains on the mainnet. Therefore, future development of L2 should shift from “relieving L1 scaling pressure” to providing more differentiated added value.

He suggests that L2 should focus on capabilities beyond scaling, such as privacy protection, application-specific optimizations, extreme performance scaling, support for non-financial applications, ultra-low latency architectures, and built-in oracles. If L2 handles ETH or other Ethereum assets, it should at least meet Stage 1 security standards and achieve high interoperability with the Ethereum mainnet. He also emphasizes the importance of native Rollup precompiles, especially once ZK-EVM proof capabilities mature, which could enable on-chain verification without a security committee, strengthening trustless interoperability and composability between L2 and Ethereum.
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
• Gate, https://www.gate.com/announcements/article/49653
• X, https://x.com/Cointelegraph/status/2018815249806192860?s=20
• X, https://x.com/VitalikButerin/status/2018711006394843585
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Disclaimer Investing in cryptocurrencies involves high risk. Users are advised to conduct independent research and fully understand the nature of assets and products before making any investment decisions. Gate is not responsible for any losses or damages resulting from such investment decisions.