Crypto Market Overview

• BTC (-0.26% 丨 Current Price 115,067 USDT): After a brief surge, the BTC price fell back and is currently fluctuating around 115,000 USD. During the day, it once reached as high as 116,740 USD, but then came under pressure and fell back, showing a short-term consolidation trend at high levels. Overall, the bullish strength has weakened. If it cannot effectively break through the 116,000 USD mark, the price may repeatedly fluctuate within the 114,000 – 116,000 USD range. The market is watching whether it can stabilize below to accumulate momentum for another upward move. On September 15, the single-day net inflow of BTC ETFs reached 259 million USD, among which BlackRock IBIT had an inflow of 261 million USD and Fidelity FBTC had an inflow of 7.5 million USD, showing that institutional funds are continuously increasing their positions in Bitcoin, enhancing the allocation weight of this asset.
• ETH (-2.13% 丨 Current Price 4,517 USDT): ETH performed relatively weak today. After hitting 4,660 USD, the price quickly fell back and is now trading near 4,500 USD. In the short term, it has repeatedly found support in the 4,480 – 4,500 USD range, but the overall downward pressure remains significant. If it can regain a foothold above 4,550 USD later, the downward trend may ease; otherwise, once it breaks below the 4,480 USD support, it may test lower levels. On September 15, the single-day net inflow of ETH ETFs reached 359 million USD, among which BlackRock ETHA had an inflow of 363 million USD, while Fidelity FETH had an outflow of 1.35 million USD.
• Altcoins: Most mainstream altcoins maintained slight increases, and market sentiment is mainly “neutral” or “buy.” Today, the Fear and Greed Index reported at 52, still within the normal range, indicating that the market sentiment has cooled compared to previous overheating.
• Macro: On September 15, the S&P 500 Index rose 0.78% to 6,615.28 points; the Dow Jones Index rose 0.11% to 45,883.45 points; the Nasdaq Index rose 0.94% to 22,348.75 points. As of 10:50 AM (UTC+8) on September 16, the spot gold price was temporarily quoted at 3,676 USD per ounce, with a 24H decline of 0.03%.

Trending Tokens

U - Union (+40.10%, Circulating Market Cap: $41.17M)

According to Gate market data, the current price of U token is 10.0212 USD, up about 40.10% in 24 hours. Union is a leading zero-knowledge (ZK) interoperability Layer 1 blockchain, serving as the settlement and liquidity layer for protocols and asset issuers. Unlike other interoperability protocols,the Union does not rely on trusted third parties, oracles, multisigs, or secure multiparty computation (MPC). Union’s efficient ZK interoperability layer supports seamless asset issuance and expansion across thousands of chains while fully balancing security, efficiency, decentralization, and speed.

In this round, the strong rise in the U token price was mainly driven by the official launch of the Boundless mainnet. This milestone means that the project has moved from the testing phase to actual application, providing users and developers with a more stable and efficient blockchain environment. With the opening of the mainnet, ecosystem applications and cooperative projects are expected to accelerate their implementation, driving demand for the U token upward. The market generally interprets this as a key step toward the “Internetization of blockchain,” enhancing long-term value expectations and thereby attracting capital inflows and pushing the price higher.

MERL - Merlin Chain (+32.44%, Circulating Market Cap: $191M)

According to Gate market data, the current price of MERL token is 0.1997 USD, up 32.44% in 24 hours. Merlin Chain is a native Bitcoin Layer 2 that aims to empower Bitcoin-native assets, protocols, and products on Layer 1 through its Layer 2 network, making Bitcoin fun again. Merlin Chain integrates a ZK-Rollup network, a decentralized oracle network, and an on-chain BTC fraud-proof module. Within 30 days of its mainnet launch, Merlin Chain locked in over 3.5 billion TVL.

In the past 24 hours, Merlin Chain (MERL) has seen a strong surge, mainly due to large-scale accumulation by whales. Data shows that two whale investors withdrew about 98.24 million MERL, worth nearly 14.9 million USD, from exchanges within six days, indicating their intention to hold long-term. Such massive buying not only reduced the circulating supply but also sent a strong signal of confidence in the future of the Merlin Chain ecosystem. As an important Bitcoin Layer 2 project, MERL’s governance, staking, and payment functions give it fundamental value. With the combined effect of whale accumulation and ecosystem development, the market outlook for MERL is increasingly bullish.

UB Unibase (+19.26%, Circulating Market Cap: $115M)

According to Gate market data, the current price of UB token is 0.0459 USD, up about 19.26% in 24 hours. Unibase is a high-performance decentralized AI memory layer that provides long-term memory and cross-platform interoperability for AI agents, enabling them to remember, collaborate, and self-evolve. Unibase aims to build an open agent internet, supporting seamless collaboration among intelligent agents across ecosystems and empowering developers to build the next generation of AI applications.

In the past 24 hours, Unibase (UB) has seen a significant price increase. First, trading volume surged, showing that market buying power has strengthened. In addition, UB’s positioning as a decentralized AI memory layer perfectly aligns with the AI sector’s current hype. Multiple favorable factors combined to push UB’s price sharply higher.

Alpha Insights

Shibarium Attacked by Hackers, Memecoin Sector Plummets

Shiba Inu’s Layer 2 network Shibarium suffered a flash loan attack on Sunday. Hackers borrowed 4.6 million BONE and manipulated validator keys to steal about 2.4 million USD in ETH and SHIB from the cross-chain bridge. Although the team quickly prevented a larger-scale outflow of funds, the incident severely hit investor confidence and highlighted blockchain security risks. Affected by this, SHIB fell more than 5% in the past 24 hours, the CoinDesk Memecoin Index dropped 6.6%, and BONE, after a brief surge, quickly fell back to around 0.20 USD.

Meanwhile, Dogecoin also came under pressure, dropping more than 5% to the latest price of 0.2736 USD. Market sentiment was further affected by large capital flows. According to Whale Alert monitoring, more than 119 million DOGE (worth over 34 million USD) was transferred to the OKX exchange, raising concerns about selling pressure. This incident not only hurt the short-term trend of major meme coins but also made investors re-examine the long-term risks of such popular tokens in terms of security and market stability.

PayPal to Support Cryptocurrency Peer-to-Peer Payments, BTC and ETH Can Be Transferred Directly

PayPal announced that it will expand its peer-to-peer payment services by adding cryptocurrency transfer functionality. Soon, users will be able to directly send Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and the company’s own stablecoin PYUSD between PayPal and Venmo platforms, and gradually achieve interoperability with more crypto wallets. At the same time, PayPal launched the new “PayPal Links” feature, allowing users to generate personalized transfer links to share via SMS, chat, or email, greatly simplifying the payment process.

This upgrade not only strengthens PayPal’s presence in the crypto payment field but also brings convenience to users in terms of taxation. The company confirmed that peer-to-peer cryptocurrency transfers (such as gifts or reimbursements) will not trigger IRS 1099-K reporting requirements, thereby remaining tax-free. As PayPal promotes the “PayPal World” interoperability plan and expands its crypto payment network globally, this move is expected to further increase its transaction volume and consolidate its leading position in the digital currency payment sector.

Ethereum Foundation Launches Fusaka Audit Competition, Total Prize Exceeds 120,000 USD

On September 16, it was reported that the Ethereum Foundation announced on X that the security audit competition for the Fusaka upgrade officially launched on September 15 and will last four weeks on the Sherlock platform. The competition is co-sponsored by Gnosis and Lido, aiming to thoroughly test the potential risks of the Fusaka upgrade and identify vulnerabilities before they affect the network. To improve auditing efficiency, valid vulnerability reports in the first week will count for double points, and in the second week will receive 1.5x points.

The total prize pool of this competition is 125,000 USD, of which Gnosis contributed 100,000 USD and Lido provided 25,000 USD. Meanwhile, the Ethereum Foundation’s Bug Bounty program is also ongoing, offering up to 250,000 USD for vulnerabilities threatening the security of the core protocol, reflecting the foundation’s long-term commitment to ensuring the security of the Ethereum ecosystem.

Gate Launchpool

New Token Sale Details

• Subscription Project: Boundless
• Token Name: ZKC
• Subscription Period: Until September 18, 2025, 14:00 (UTC)
• Participation Method: Stake ETH to claim for free
• Total Airdrop Supply: 133,334 ZKC

Project Introduction

Boundless is a universal ZK protocol aimed at empowering blockchain with internet-level scalability. Boundless introduces a new incentive mechanism—Proof of Verifiable Work (PoVW)—and rewards prover nodes with the native token $ZKC to generate proofs for various L1s, rollups, cross-chain bridges, and applications across different ecosystems. By offloading computation to the Boundless network and verifying proofs on-chain, scarce computing resources become abundant. As more provers join, the network capacity continues to grow, transforming blockchains that were once limited by computing power into verifiable, borderless scalable infrastructure.


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
• CoinGecko, https://www.coingecko.com/categories
• Coindesk, https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2025/09/15/memecoins-under-pressure-as-shib-dogecoin-slide-after-shibarium-loses-usd2-4m-in-hack
• Coindesk, https://www.coindesk.com/business/2025/09/15/paypal-adding-crypto-to-peer-to-peer-payments-allowing-direct-transfer-of-btc-eth-others
• Panews, https://www.panewslab.com/articles/a768849e-b044-46a8-aec2-83d7a6b8e968
• Gate, https://www.gate.com/announcements/article/47118

Gate Research is a comprehensive blockchain and cryptocurrency research platform that provides deep content for readers, including technical analysis, market insights, industry research, trend forecasting, and macroeconomic policy analysis.

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.