Crypto Market Overview

• BTC (0.27% | Current Price: 119,574 USDT): BTC continued its oscillating upward trend today, briefly approaching the $120,000 mark during intraday trading, indicating that bulls remain in control. Overall, the price is still consolidating at a high level. If it can break through $120,000 with strong volume and hold above this level, it would further strengthen market bullish sentiment. On August 12, BTC ETFs recorded a net inflow of $65.9 million in a single day, with BlackRock IBIT seeing an inflow of $111 million, Ark ARKB an outflow of $23.9 million, and Grayscale GBTC an outflow of $21.6 million. Although some institutions are taking profits and exiting, buying interest in the market remains strong.
• ETH (7.50% | Current Price: 4,609 USDT): ETH showed strong bullish momentum today, breaking above the $4,600 level on high volume and reaching a new high of $4,647.46 in this upward cycle. The continuous stepwise ascent over several days reflects strong market buying sentiment, and the technical outlook is firmly bullish. If ETH can maintain above $4,600 in the short term, it may further challenge the $4,700 and even $4,800 levels. On August 12, ETH ETFs saw a net inflow of $523 million in a single day, with BlackRock ETHA inflowing $318 million, Fidelity FETH inflowing $144 million, and Grayscale ETH inflowing $44.3 million. This indicates strong institutional buying support for ETH, fueling its continued rise.
• Altcoins: Most major altcoins are showing an upward trend, with market sentiment leaning toward “neutral” or “buy.” The Fear & Greed Index stands at 63 today, remaining in the “greed” zone, reflecting elevated investor sentiment. The market atmosphere is currently heated, but caution is advised as overheated sentiment may lead to short-term volatility and pullbacks.
• Macro: On August 12, the S&P 500 rose 1.13% to 6,445.76, the Dow Jones increased 1.10% to 44,458.61, and the Nasdaq gained 1.39% to 21,681.90. As of 11:30 AM (UTC+8) on August 13, spot gold is trading at $3,351 per ounce, up 0.23% over the past 24 hours.

Trending Tokens

CYBER Cyber (+47.20%, Circulating Market Cap: $125 million)

According to Gate market data, CYBER is currently trading at $2.7980, up approximately 47.20% in the past 24 hours. Cyber is a Layer 2 network targeting social scenarios. By extending Web3 beyond the financial realm, it enables developers to build decentralized applications that redefine how people connect, create, monetize, and share value.

Recently, the project partnered with Surf.AI to launch Surf Copilot — a crypto AI assistant used by top funds, research institutions, and exchanges — which has attracted significant attention from both the community and the industry. Additionally, on August 12, a certain exchange listed the CYBER/USDT trading pair, generating notable new trading volume and capital inflow. Driven by both the listing and application narrative, CYBER’s price surged rapidly from its low, reaching a peak increase of over 50%, with trading volume rising in tandem, demonstrating strong bullish buying power.

FARTCOIN Fartcoin (+20.93%, Circulating Market Cap: $1.047 billion)

According to Gate market data, FARTCOIN is currently priced at $1.0733, up 20.93% in the past 24 hours. Fartcoin is a Meme token built on the Solana ecosystem. Leveraging its unique community culture and social media operations, it has quickly gained high attention and engagement.

The recent price increase is driven by both macro and micro factors:

• Macro: Solana’s ecosystem continues to heat up, combined with exchange-driven interactive events such as Solana SpinFest, which provide additional exposure and user incentives for ecosystem tokens, creating a positive cycle of capital and popularity.
• Micro: Fartcoin’s community actively engages in high-frequency marketing and topic-driven campaigns. Coupled with active trading on mainstream platforms, this attracts short-term capital inflows, amplifying price volatility.

Overall, Fartcoin benefits from both strong capital interest and trading activity within the Meme token segment. Combined with the recovery of the Solana ecosystem, it has become one of the standout performers recently.

QUBIC Qubic (+14.88%, Market Cap: $338 million)

According to Gate market data, QUBIC is currently trading at $0.0000027730, up approximately 14.88% in the past 24 hours. Qubic is a new computational network based on Proof-of-Work (PoW). It has recently drawn wide attention after achieving over 51% of the total network hash rate on the Monero network.

This event acted as the core catalyst for the price surge:

• On one hand, Qubic theoretically now has the capability to take over the Monero network, validating its hash rate deployment and raising discussions about PoW security and governance.
• On the other hand, the team has frequently promoted the “From Waste to Worth” narrative, criticizing the inefficiency of traditional PoW and proposing a vision for expanded hash rate value, which received positive market feedback.

These dual factors drove QUBIC to surge quickly from its low, accompanied by significant increases in capital and trading volume.

Alpha Insights

Aave Borrowing Volume Surpasses $25 Billion, Hits All-Time High

The active borrowing volume on the decentralized lending protocol Aave recently exceeded $25 billion, setting a new record and demonstrating that DeFi lending demand has surged amid the recent market recovery. Earlier this year, Aave’s borrowing volume had fallen to around $10 billion. However, with rising prices of ETH and other major crypto assets, increased arbitrage and leverage opportunities driven by heightened market volatility, and continued demand for stablecoin lending, the total borrowing volume has accelerated since Q2, climbing from $15 billion to the current level in just two months.

The drivers behind this growth have become increasingly diversified. In addition to leverage demand triggered by rising market prices, higher utilization of RWA-backed stablecoins, as well as Aave’s introduction of isolated mode and eMode risk management mechanisms, have enhanced both capital efficiency and risk control. This suggests that even during potential market pullbacks, Aave’s capital retention may be more resilient than in the past.

Overall, Aave’s record borrowing volume not only reflects a recovery in market risk appetite but also indicates a structural upgrade in the DeFi lending sector, shifting from purely price-speculation-driven activity toward multi-asset, multi-scenario funding demand. This has significant implications for the platform’s long-term sustainable growth and the competitive landscape of the industry.

Circle Expands into Public Blockchain, Arc Focused on Stablecoins and Institutional Financial Use Cases

Stablecoin issuer Circle (NYSE: CRCL) announced during its Q2 2025 earnings report the launch of a new Layer 1 blockchain, Arc, designed specifically for stablecoin financial applications. The report showed that USDC circulation surged 90% YoY to $61.3 billion, while total revenue and reserve income grew 53% to $658 million. Net loss amounted to $482 million, impacted by non-cash IPO-related expenses. In Q2, Circle completed a $1.2 billion IPO and continued expanding its stablecoin ecosystem.

Arc is fully EVM-compatible and uses the high-performance Malachite consensus engine developed by Informal Systems, enabling sub-second transaction confirmations. USDC serves as the native gas token, reducing fee volatility risks. The platform also features an institutional-grade RFQ forex engine, supporting 24/7 cross-stablecoin atomic swaps and optional privacy protection, meeting enterprise compliance and data security needs. Deep integration with Circle’s payment network, wallet, and cross-chain bridge CCTP creates a closed-loop ecosystem for stablecoin applications.

The team plans to launch a private testnet in the coming weeks and a public testnet in autumn, preparing for a beta mainnet release in 2026. With low latency, high stability, and finance-native functionalities, Arc is poised to become a core infrastructure for cross-border payments, DeFi, and on-chain settlement, accelerating USDC adoption and expanding on-chain use cases. This is expected to strengthen Circle’s competitiveness in the stablecoin sector and provide institutions and developers with a safer and more efficient deployment environment.

RWA-Focused Public Blockchain MANTRA Chain Testnet Achieves EVM Compatibility, Mainnet Launch Scheduled for September

MANTRA announced that its testnet has achieved full EVM compatibility, positioning itself as the first MultiVM Layer 1 blockchain specifically designed for RWA (Real-World Asset) applications, with the mainnet scheduled for September. At launch, the MANTRA.finance platform will support various RWA projects, including financing for a Dubai electric bicycle fleet, showcasing its capability to integrate real-world assets with on-chain finance.

According to the roadmap, the team plans to continue expanding the ecosystem from Q4 2025 to Q1 2026, introducing more dApps and partners. Starting Q2 2026, MANTRA will issue yield-bearing tokens backed by real-world assets and build a secondary liquidity market to improve asset trading and yield distribution mechanisms.

In addition, MANTRA has formed a strategic partnership with Inveniam and secured a $20 million investment to accelerate bringing real-world assets on-chain. This provides funding support for technology and ecosystem growth while laying a foundation for competitive advantages in the RWA sector. With increasing regulatory compliance demands and growing institutional participation, the RWA sector is expected to become a key driver for the next stage of DeFi growth. MANTRA has early established a differentiated positioning of “compliance + multi-VM + RWA focus”, advancing simultaneously through financing, ecosystem partnerships, and product rollout, positioning itself for a first-mover advantage in the RWA and compliant DeFi markets.


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/trade/GT_USDT
• Gate, https://www.gate.com/price
• Mantra, https://www.mantrachain.io/resources/announcements/roadmap-update
• X, https://x.com/aave/status/1955271054466695388
• Business Wire, https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250812836620/en/Circle-Reports-Second-Quarter-2025-Results

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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.