Gate Research: Weekly Hot Topics（April 11-17, 2025)

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Gate Research: Weekly Hot Topics（April 11-17, 2025)

Overview

This report focuses on blockchain industry developments from April 11-17, 2025. Ethereum network saw March average gas fees plummet by 80% to historic lows due to decreased on-chain activity and Layer 2 traffic diversion. Gate.io, celebrating its 12th anniversary, has released its Q1 2025 report, which shows a 31% quarter-over-quarter increase in contract trading volume and an excess reserve rate of 28.58%. The exchange also significantly enhanced its brand influence by becoming an official sponsor of F1 Red Bull Racing Team and through various charitable activities. The RWA project MANTRA (OM) suffered a 90% flash crash in one day from liquidity liquidations, highlighting risks of centralized exchanges and large-holder manipulation. TRON achieved Q1 revenue of $760 million and maintained market leadership with its stablecoin market cap of $66.2 billion. Solana boosted its performance through the SIMD-0207 upgrade by raising the block computation limit to 50 million units. Sony-backed Soneium collaborated with EigenLayer and AltLayer to develop a “Quick Finality Layer,” cutting transaction confirmation times from 15 minutes to under 10 seconds, and setting a new L2 performance benchmark. The sUSD depegging event prompted investors to reassess the architecture of stablecoins and the market’s trust. These events highlight the industry’s emphasis on optimizing performance and scaling, while underscoring the importance of robust governance and security systems across various sectors.

Projects

Ethereum Gas Fees Hit Record Low, March Average Drops 80% Compared to Late 2024

Data shows that Ethereum network gas fees hit a historic low at the end of March 2025, with the monthly average cost falling to just 2.71 Gwei—an 80% drop from 16.9 Gwei at the end of 2024.

A significant drop in market activity primarily drives the sharp decline in Ethereum gas fees. As ETH prices have weakened and entered a period of volatility, on-chain transaction volume has decreased accordingly. This has led to a decline in both user activity and capital liquidity, ultimately reducing overall network usage and driving gas fees lower. In addition, Layer 2 scaling solutions like Arbitrum and Optimism have offloaded a substantial portion of mainnet transactions, keeping base-layer gas costs consistently low [1].

Gate.io Releases Q1 2025 Report: Trading Volume and Reserves See Growth

Leading global cryptocurrency exchange Gate.io marked its 12th anniversary with a strong performance in the first quarter of 2025. The platform saw continued growth in user base and contract trading volume, with a 31% increase in contract volume compared to the previous quarter. Its LaunchPool underwent a full upgrade, distributing over $14 million in airdrop and mining rewards.

On the security front, Gate.io’s total reserves reached $10.328 billion, ranking fourth globally, with a reserve ratio of 128.58% and an excess reserve ratio of 28.58%. In terms of performance, institutional trading latency was reduced by half, copy trading volume surged by 780%, the number of trading bot strategies rose by 404%, and leveraged ETFs now support over 200 assets. The GT ecosystem also performed strongly, with the token reaching an all-time high and gaining nearly 70% year-to-date. Token burn operations continued throughout the quarter. Gate.io further enhanced its global brand presence by becoming an official sponsor of the F1 Red Bull Racing Team. The platform also undertakes multiple philanthropic initiatives in regions such as Vietnam and Benin, demonstrating its commitment to corporate social responsibility.

Guided by the strategic vision of “security as foundation, innovation as spearhead,” Gate.io achieved both business growth and brand enhancement in Q1 2025. The platform strengthened user asset security through transparent audits. It maintained excess reserves while expanding its product range to include spot trading, derivatives, quantitative trading, and DeFi staking, thereby building a comprehensive ecosystem. The company’s commitment to global compliance, combined with premier sports sponsorships, elevated its brand presence, while its philanthropic and educational initiatives reinforced Gate.io’s social commitment. Looking ahead, Gate.io aims to maintain its high growth trajectory while further optimizing risk control models and user experience, driving technological innovation and regulatory alignment, and setting new standards for the digital asset industry [2].

OM Price Flash Crash Recap: Peak Drop Exceeds 90%

On April 13, MANTRA (OM), a crypto project in the RWA sector, experienced extreme price volatility. The OM token plunged over 90% within a short period, dropping from $6 to $0.50, wiping out more than $5.5 billion in market capitalization. The price later rebounded to around $1.20 [3].

According to MANTRA, the crash was caused by reckless liquidations on centralized exchanges (CEXs) during periods of low liquidity, rather than team-initiated selling. They emphasized that OM tokens remain locked, the tokenomics have not changed, and neither the core team, advisors, nor the MANTRA DAO Association sold any tokens. However, on-chain data revealed that several whale addresses transferred large amounts of OM to exchanges just before the crash, raising suspicions of market manipulation among investors. Community members also pointed out that while MANTRA’s TVL (Total Value Locked) was only around $13 million, its fully diluted valuation (FDV) reached as high as $9.5 billion, highlighting a glaring valuation mismatch.

This crash not only severely impacted OM itself but also sent shockwaves across the entire RWA sector. Market confidence was significantly shaken, and investors began to reassess the sustainability and governance transparency of RWA projects. The incident highlighted systemic risks stemming from reliance on centralized exchanges, as well as the structural fragility resulting from concentrated token holdings. Going forward, similar projects may struggle to attract long-term capital unless they improve transparency and adopt more decentralized governance frameworks. Strengthening disclosure practices and governance mechanisms will be key to restoring trust and ensuring the healthy development of the RWA ecosystem.

TRON Q1 Revenue Reaches $760M, Hitting All-Time High

TRON continued its growth momentum across multiple key metrics in Q1 2025. The network’s market capitalization rose by 3.5% quarter-over-quarter to $22.7 billion, while platform revenue reached a historic high of $760 million. Despite a modest 6.1% decline in TRX price, total revenue in USD terms continued to rise, indicating sustained on-chain activity.

The stablecoin ecosystem remains TRON’s core growth driver. By the end of Q1, the total stablecoin market cap on TRON had reached $66.2 billion, up 12.8% from the previous quarter. Tether (USDT) alone accounted for $65.7 billion—99.3% of the total—with daily transfer volume increasing to $19 billion. Notably, 45.9% of the global USDT supply is now issued on the TRON network. Additionally, during Q1, TRON launched USDD 2.0, an upgraded version of its algorithmic stablecoin, and announced strategic partnerships with key ecosystem players, including Wintermute, Nansen, Kiln, Tap Protocol, and Eternal AI. These collaborations aim to enhance TRON’s capabilities in areas like liquidity, security, AI integration, and cross-chain communication.

Based on its 2025 roadmap, TRON will focus on expanding its ecosystem and increasing decentralization. Key priorities include enhancing the USDD 2.0 stablecoin system, introducing user-friendly features such as gas-free transactions and smart wallets, strengthening institutional partnerships, and improving network security through the deployment of global nodes and super representatives. TRON also aims to attract more DeFi and Web3 applications by upgrading its infrastructure and developer tools, reinforcing its position as a leader in stablecoins and cross-chain transactions. [4]

Solana Raised Block Compute Limit, Upgrades Network Performance

The Solana blockchain has successfully implemented the network upgrade proposal SIMD-0207, which increases the computation unit limit per block to 50 million, representing a 4% increase. This enhancement enhances Solana’s transaction throughput, allowing for more transactions to be processed without compromising performance. Anza engineer Andrew Fitzgerald first proposed the upgrade in December 2024, and it went live in April 2025.

While some community members have expressed concerns that larger blocks could raise hardware requirements for validators—potentially impacting decentralization—others have advocated for further increases to push the network’s performance boundaries. Solana is already planning another proposal, SIMD-0256, which aims to raise the block compute limit to 60 million units. This upgrade will be complemented by the introduction of the Firedancer validator client, developed by Jump Crypto, which is expected to boost network throughput and security significantly.

Solana continues to advance along its scalability roadmap, reinforcing its position as a high-performance Layer 1 blockchain. Increased transaction capacity is likely to attract more decentralized applications and users, driving greater network activity and ecosystem growth. However, as its technology evolves, Solana must continue to strike a careful balance between maximizing performance and maintaining decentralization and network security [5].

Sony-Backed Soneium Partners with EigenLayer to Cut Finality Time by 98%, Redefining L2 Performance Standards

Sony-supported blockchain network Soneium has announced a strategic partnership with AltLayer and EigenLayer to launch a “Fast Finality Layer,” reducing its transaction finality time from 15 minutes to under 10 seconds, which represents a 98% improvement. This breakthrough is expected to greatly enhance user experience and provide the high-performance infrastructure needed for mainstream blockchain applications such as payments, gaming, and real-time data processing.

In the blockchain field, finality time refers to the point at which a transaction is considered irrevocably valid, making it a crucial metric for both usability and security. Soneium, which previously adopted the OP Stack architecture from Optimism, was constrained by the sequencing and challenge period mechanisms that typically required around 15 minutes to finalize transactions. By integrating a decentralized validator network built on EigenLayer and leveraging AltLayer’s elastic execution layer, Soneium has established a Layer 2 infrastructure that strikes a balance between throughput and security, laying the technical groundwork for future performance enhancements and ecosystem expansion.

Compared to leading Layer 2 solutions like Arbitrum and Optimism, Soneium’s Fast Finality Layer delivers a more optimal balance between user interaction experience and security architecture. This positions the network to attract latency-sensitive applications such as high-frequency DeFi strategies, Web3 gaming, and payment systems, thereby strengthening ecosystem engagement and boosting developer activity [6].

sUSD Depegging Intensifies, Triggers Market Panic

Since April 10, 2025, Synthetix’s stablecoin sUSD has significantly depegged, trading at $0.8107 with a 5.8% drop on April 17 and a market cap decline to $25.76 million. The depegging stems primarily from Synthetix’s ongoing mechanism upgrade, as the platform replaces its old debt management system with the new “420 Pool” mechanism. This transition has temporarily left the market without effective price adjustment tools. However, Synthetix founder Kain Warwick emphasizes that this represents temporary volatility during the transition period rather than a systemic crisis.

sUSD’s stability has traditionally relied on the SNX token’s high collateralization ratio and debt adjustment mechanisms. The new mechanism reduces the collateralization ratio to 200% and aims to forgive $62 million in historical debt over a 12-month period, designed to improve capital efficiency and system security. However, this transition period has eroded market confidence in sUSD, resulting in increased price volatility. In response, the Synthetix team has implemented several measures: enhanced Curve pool incentives, an extended Infinex deposit period, and a new long-term price support system for sUSD.

This depegging event has shaken investors’ confidence in stablecoins. Despite the Synthetix team’s countermeasures, sUSD price continues to fluctuate within a 5-10% decline range in the short term. While sUSD may regain market trust and stability as the new mechanism matures, seeds of uncertainty have been planted in investors’ minds, warranting continued attention to market performance. This event serves as a reminder that stablecoin “stability” is not absolute, and mechanism design and market confidence are equally crucial factors [7].

Notice
Users should exercise caution when participating, be mindful of risks, and conduct thorough research before involvement. Gate.io does not guarantee the future development of projects.


References：

1. X,https://x.com/Cointelegraph/status/1910462900344443243
2. Gate.io,https://www.gate.io/announcements/article/44362?ch=GM_Q1od_20250410&utm_campaign=TR_464ee7gU&utm_content=&utm_medium=Flash+News&utm_source=CH_mX1vZMFk&utm_term=
3. Mantrachain,https://www.mantrachain.io/resources/announcements/community-update-14-april
4. Messari,https://messari.io/report/state-of-tron-q1-2025?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=organic_social&utm_campaign=q1_quarterlies&destination=protocol_services_research#closing-summary
5. SolanaFloor,https://solanafloor.com/zh/news/solana-scales-higher-increasing-block-limit-by-4
6. Cointelegraph,https://cointelegraph.com/news/sony-soneium-eigenlayer-finality-under-10-seconds
7. Parsec,https://parsec.substack.com/p/parsec-weekly-113

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Disclaimer
Investing in the cryptocurrency market involves high risk, and it is recommended that users conduct independent research and fully understand the nature of the assets and products they purchase before making any investment decisions. Gate.io is not responsible for any losses or damages caused by such investment decisions.