Gate Research Institute: Memecoin zone has plummeted | PayPal will support direct transfers of Crypto Assets

crypto market overview

• BTC (-0.26% | Current Price 115,067 USDT): After a brief surge, the BTC price has retreated and is currently fluctuating around 115,000 USD. The daily high briefly reached 116,740 USD but subsequently came under pressure and fell back, showing a high-level consolidation pattern in the short term. Overall, the bullish momentum has weakened; if it cannot effectively break through the 116,000 USD level, the price may oscillate repeatedly within the 114,000 - 116,000 USD range. The market is watching for stability below to accumulate momentum for another upward attack. On September 15, the net inflow of BTC ETF reached 259 million USD in a single day, with BlackRock's IBIT inflowing 261 million USD and Fidelity's FBTC inflowing 7.5 million USD, indicating that institutional funds are continuously increasing their positions in Bitcoin, enhancing the allocation weight of this asset.
• ETH (-2.13% | Current Price 4,517 USDT): ETH's performance today is relatively weak, with the price quickly retreating after attempting to break through 4,660 USD, currently trading around 4,500 USD. In the short term, it has received support multiple times in the 4,480 - 4,500 USD range, but the overall downward pressure remains significant. If it can regain a stable position above 4,550 USD, it may alleviate the downward trend; conversely, if it falls below the 4,480 USD support, it may test lower levels. On September 15, ETH ETF saw a net inflow of 359 million USD in a single day, with BlackRock's ETHA inflowing 363 million USD and Fidelity's FETH outflowing 1.35 million USD.
• Altcoins: Most mainstream altcoins have seen slight increases, with market sentiment primarily being “neutral” or “buy.” The fear and greed index today reports 52, remaining within the normal range, indicating that market sentiment has eased compared to the previous overheating.
• Macro: On September 15, the S&P 500 index rose by 0.78%, closing at 6,615.28 points; the Dow Jones index increased by 0.11%, closing at 45,883.45 points; the Nasdaq index climbed by 0.94%, closing at 22,348.75 points. As of September 16, 10:50 AM (UTC+8), the spot gold price is temporarily reported at 3,676 USD per ounce, with a 24H decline of 0.03%.

Trending Tokens

U Union (+40.10%, circulating market value 41.17 million USD)

According to Gate market data, the current quote for the U token is 10.0212 USD, which has increased by about 40.10% in the last 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, Union does not rely on trusted third parties, oracles, multi-signatures, or secure multi-party computation (MPC). Union's efficient ZK interoperability layer supports seamless asset issuance and scaling across thousands of chains while fully ensuring security, efficiency, decentralization, and speed. This makes Union a pioneering solution in the field, dedicated to achieving sub-second cross-chain settlement—creating the ultimate vision for a cross-chain future.

The price of the U token has significantly strengthened in this round, primarily driven by the official launch of the Boundless mainnet. This milestone signifies the project's transition from the testing phase to practical application, providing users and developers with a more stable and efficient blockchain environment. With the mainnet open, ecological applications and cooperative projects are expected to accelerate implementation, leading to an increase in demand for the U token. The market generally interprets this as a key step towards “blockchain internetization” for the project, enhancing long-term value expectations, which in turn drives funds to flow in and pushes up the token price.

MERL Merlin Chain (+32.44%, circulating market cap 191 million USD)

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

In the past 24 hours, Merlin Chain (MERL) has seen a strong rise, primarily due to the large-scale coin accumulation by whales. Data shows that two whale investors withdrew approximately 98.24 million MERL from exchanges within six days, worth nearly 14.9 million USD, indicating their long-term holding intentions. Such a massive buy not only reduces the circulating supply in the market but also conveys strong confidence in the future of the Merlin Chain ecosystem. As an important project of Bitcoin Layer 2, the governance, staking, and payment functions of MERL provide it with fundamental value. With the accumulation effects of the whales and the overlapping development of the ecosystem, the market is increasingly bullish on MERL's subsequent trend.

UB Unibase (+19.26%, circulating market cap 115 million USD)

According to Gate market data, the current price of the UB token is $0.0459, with an increase of about 19.26% in the last 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 that supports seamless collaboration among intelligent agents across ecosystems, empowering developers to create the next generation of AI applications.

In the past 24 hours, the price of Unibase (UB) has risen significantly. First, the trading volume has increased dramatically, indicating a strengthening buying power in the market. Furthermore, with UB positioned as a decentralized AI memory layer, it coincides perfectly with the current enthusiasm for AI. Multiple positive factors have combined to drive the price of UB up rapidly.

Alpha Interpretation

Shibarium was attacked by hackers, and the Memecoin sector plummeted.

The Shiba Inu Layer 2 network Shibarium faced a flash loan attack on Sunday, with hackers borrowing 4.6 million BONE and manipulating validator keys to steal approximately $2.4 million worth of ETH and SHIB from the cross-chain bridge. Although the team managed to prevent a larger outflow of funds in time, the incident severely undermined investor confidence, highlighting security risks in the blockchain. As a result, SHIB fell over 5% in the past 24 hours, the CoinDesk Memecoin Index dropped by 6.6%, and BONE quickly retreated to around $0.20 after a brief surge.

At the same time, Dogecoin is also under pressure, with a price drop of more than 5%, currently reported at 0.2736 USD. Market sentiment is further influenced by large capital flows; according to Whale Alert, over 119 million DOGE (worth more than 34 million USD) were transferred to the OKX exchange, raising concerns about selling pressure in the market. This event not only impacted the short-term trend of major meme coins but also prompted investors to reassess the long-term risks of such popular tokens in terms of safety and market stability.

PayPal will support cryptocurrency peer-to-peer payments, with BTC, ETH, etc. available for direct transfer.

PayPal announced that it will expand its peer-to-peer payment services by adding cryptocurrency transfer features. Users will soon be able to directly send digital assets such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and the company's own USD stablecoin PYUSD between the PayPal and Venmo platforms, gradually achieving interoperability with more crypto wallets. Meanwhile, PayPal has also launched a brand new “PayPal Links” feature that allows users to generate personalized transfer links to share via SMS, chat, or email, significantly simplifying the payment process.

This upgrade not only strengthens PayPal's layout in the encryption payment field but also brings convenience to users in terms of taxation. The company confirmed that cryptocurrency transfers between individuals (such as gifts or reimbursements) will not trigger IRS 1099-K reporting requirements, thus maintaining tax-exempt status. As PayPal promotes the “PayPal World” interoperability program and expands its encryption payment network globally, this move is expected to further enhance its user payment volume and solidify its leading position in the digital currency payment arena.

The Ethereum Foundation launches the Fusaka audit competition, with a total prize exceeding $120,000.

On September 16, the Ethereum Foundation announced on the X platform that the security audit competition for the Fusaka upgrade officially went live on September 15 and will last for four weeks on the Sherlock platform. This competition is jointly sponsored by Gnosis and Lido, aiming to comprehensively examine the potential risks of the Fusaka upgrade and to detect vulnerabilities in a timely manner before they affect the network. To enhance auditing efficiency, valid vulnerability reports in the first week will earn double points, while the second week will offer a 1.5 times points reward.

The total prize pool for this competition is $125,000, with Gnosis contributing $100,000 and Lido providing $25,000. At the same time, the Ethereum Foundation's Bug Bounty program is also ongoing, offering up to $250,000 for vulnerabilities that threaten the security of the core protocol, reflecting the Foundation's long-term commitment to ensuring the security of the Ethereum ecosystem.

Gate Launchpool

New Subscription Details

• Subscription Project: Boundless
• Token Name: ZKC
• New subscription deadline: Until September 18, 2025, 22:00 (UTC+8)
• How to participate: Stake ETH to receive for free.
• Total airdrop amount: 133,334 ZKC

Project Introduction

Boundless is a universal ZK protocol designed to empower blockchain with internet-level scalability. Boundless introduces a new incentive mechanism called 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 within different ecosystems. By shifting computation execution to the Boundless network and verifying proofs on-chain, computational resources transition from scarcity to abundance. As more provers join, the network capacity continues to grow, transforming blockchains that were previously limited by computational capacity into a verifiable, boundless scalable infrastructure.
Reference Materials:

• 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

Disclaimer Investing in the crypto market involves high risks. Users are advised to conduct independent research and fully understand the nature of the assets and products they purchase before making any investment decisions. Gate shall not be liable for any losses or damages arising from such investment decisions.