According to the latest weekly report from Gate Ventures, escalating geopolitical risks and changes in the AI competitive landscape pushed all three major U.S. stock indexes lower last week. Energy prices climbed sharply, while traditional safe-haven assets including gold and U.S. Treasuries moved in different directions.
The crypto market, by contrast, kept a selective upward trend. Bitcoin rose 1.5% and Ether gained 3.6%, while spot BTC and ETH exchange-traded funds both continued to record net inflows.
Regulation and real-world use cases stayed in focus
Gate Ventures said regulation and practical adoption remained at the center of industry developments during the week. In Japan, convenience store giant Lawson and Netstars are advancing a stablecoin payment pilot, a move tied to bringing stablecoins into everyday consumer spending scenarios.
In South Korea, authorities plan to formally include digital assets within the national asset management framework and are exploring the tokenization of government bonds and state-owned assets. The report said this points to continued acceleration in RWA infrastructure development.
In Europe, the number of licensed institutions rose to 294 after the end of the MiCA transition period. While the pace of new licenses has slowed, institutional interest has not weakened, according to the report.
Funding activity clustered around infrastructure
The crypto industry recorded 16 financing events last week, with capital heavily concentrated in infrastructure. Alpaca raised $135 million to expand work on tokenized securities and AI financial infrastructure. Flex secured $70 million to broaden its stablecoin-based cross-border payments network.
Gate Ventures said the trend reflects continued long-term confidence from capital markets in digital financial infrastructure. The firm added that as global regulatory frameworks gradually take shape and the integration of traditional finance with blockchain deepens, the digital asset ecosystem may move toward a more mature and diversified stage of development.