Gate has completed the full integration of Circle's Arc Layer 1 blockchain, launched zero-gas on-chain trading campaigns, and continued to broaden its multi-asset offering spanning tokenized stocks, metals, and prediction markets. The week of product expansion unfolded against a turbulent macro backdrop, with oil back above $100, U.S. core inflation exceeding expectations, and cryptocurrency prices pulling back alongside equities.

Arc Blockchain Goes Live on Gate With Zero-Gas Trading

The week's headline product development was Gate's official integration of Circle's Arc Layer 1 blockchain on September 16. The rollout spans Gate Trenches, Gate Wallet, and the platform's on-chain market data, giving users an end-to-end on-chain experience — from discovering trending tokens on Arc to managing assets and executing trades — within a single interface. The move reflects a broader industry shift in which centralized platforms are embedding public-chain markets directly into their interfaces rather than treating them as separate venues.

Gate Trenches is offering exclusive zero-gas trading for Arc assets, effectively making it free to trade directly on-chain. Gas fees are the per-transaction network costs users normally pay to interact with a blockchain, so waiving them removes one of the main frictions between exchange users and direct on-chain execution. To mark the launch, Gate is running the Trenches Arc Chain First Launch campaign from September 16 to September 27, distributing up to 60,000 USDT across four reward tracks: daily check-ins, cumulative volume milestones, a top-30 leaderboard, and new-user fee rebate coupons. Trading fees on Arc through Trenches are as low as 0.5%.

Gate has also completed USDC integration on the Arc network, with deposits and withdrawals now live, giving users a direct conduit for moving Circle's dollar-pegged stablecoin between the exchange and the network. Jason Fung, Head of Global Partnerships, noted that Circle's dominant position in the stablecoin market gives Arc a powerful foundation — and that Gate is backing the network from day one.

Markets in Focus: Oil Above $100 as Crypto Softens

According to Gate Ventures' latest weekly report, global markets faced heightened volatility driven by Middle East geopolitical escalation and a hotter-than-expected U.S. core CPI print of 0.29% month-over-month. Brent crude and WTI surged 8.33% and 9.36%, respectively, while the 10-year Treasury yield climbed to 4.97% as markets priced in roughly 86% odds of a September rate hike. Gold slipped 1.82% to $4,349.42 per ounce.

U.S. equities declined across the board, and crypto followed: BTC fell 4.4% and ETH dropped 1.5%. Spot BTC ETFs recorded $462.7 million in net outflows, while spot ETH ETFs attracted $197.1 million in inflows. ETF flow data is closely watched as a gauge of institutional participation in the asset class.

Despite the pullback, institutional momentum in tokenized assets and crypto infrastructure showed no sign of slowing, with India launching a $107 million tokenized bond pilot and Gemini securing a Singapore Major Payment Institution (MPI) license, the category Singapore grants for larger-scale payment services under its Payment Services Act.

ETH Futures Volume Surges 53%

On the derivatives side, ETH futures volumes surged 53.12% over 24 hours to $52.68 billion network-wide. Gate recorded $6.73 billion in ETH futures volume and $3.2 billion in open interest, ranking third and second globally, respectively. Open interest — the total value of outstanding futures contracts — serves as a standard gauge of the capital committed to a market. Industry-wide ETH spot trading volume reached $3.49 billion over the same period, with Gate contributing $392 million.

Stock Derivatives and gStocks Maintain Momentum

Gate's stock derivatives business continued to grow. SK Hynix (SKHX) futures open interest reached nearly $123 million — second globally — with 24-hour volume approaching $177 million. Samsung (SAMSUNG) futures recorded $7.44 million in open interest and $32.37 million in volume, also ranking second industry-wide.

On the tokenized stocks side, Gate gStocks posted notable gains: Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bear 3X (SOXSG) rose 6.21%, Palantir (PLTRG) gained 3.63%, Google (GOOGLG) climbed 3.50%, and Qualcomm (QCOMG) jumped 4.57%. Among Hong Kong-listed stocks, CMON led with a single-day gain of 27.27%, followed by Grand Field Group (+21.95%) and VIEWTRIX Technology (+20.08%). Tokenized stocks — blockchain-based representations of listed equities — have become one of the clearest points of convergence between traditional finance and crypto infrastructure, a theme echoed by the tokenized bond pilot and licensing developments in the week's market data.

Gate Stocks now covers more than 12,800 stocks and ETFs across U.S., Hong Kong, South Korea, and Japanese markets, with a zero-fee mode available for U.S. stocks. Precious metals futures also stood out: Gate's gold futures ranked third industry-wide with $325 million in 24-hour volume, while silver futures ranked second at $104 million.

Copy Trading Grows Across CFD and Futures

Copy trading — which lets users automatically replicate the positions of selected lead traders — posted broad-based growth during the week. CFD daily copy trading volume rose 23.9% week-over-week, marking a third consecutive week of gains, while the average daily number of new futures Copiers jumped 32.3% week-over-week — a four-week high. Active copy trading capital grew 9.6% week-over-week.

The Gate Lead Trader Recruitment Program Phase 7 is live through September 30, featuring a 43,000 USDT prize pool across futures, gold, forex, and equities categories, with top performers eligible for up to 31% profit sharing.

Event Market: LaLiga, Prize Pools, and New-User Rewards

Gate's Prediction and Event Markets — where users can take positions on the outcomes of real-world events — remained active around LaLiga Matchday 6. FC Barcelona held a 92% support rate ahead of its September 16 clash with Real Racing Club, and a separate match between Rayo Vallecano and RCD Espanyol was available for prediction on September 15. Event Market Points Season 5 is underway with a total prize pool of 41,543 USDT.

The platform's “Event Market Launch Gift” campaign runs through September 28, offering new users 1:1 loss compensation of up to 20 USDT on their first trade, daily check-in rewards from a 28,000 USDT pool, and a chance at an 88,888 PTS lucky prize.

Platform Campaigns and New Listings

Several new futures listings went live during the week. Gate launched STANDARD perpetual futures with 1–10x leverage, a token tied to The Standard Reserve's on-chain central bank experiment, with trading bots and copy trading now supported. PAID perpetual futures (USDT-M, 1–10x) also debuted; PAID is a Solana-based token used to pay meme creator fees.

On the rewards side, Gate Futures Points Airdrop Phase 141 offered 13 LSK and 100 USDT position vouchers on September 15. Phase 142 follows on September 17, featuring 12 USD1 and 100 USDT vouchers, with a decreasing threshold mechanism that rewards users holding higher point balances.

Gate also launched two Convert campaigns: a Lucky Draw Boost running through September 21, in which the top 200 traders share 20,000 USDT worth of GT, and a New User Benefits campaign running through September 17 that offers up to 1,305 CP for new Convert participants. With campaign deadlines clustered between September 17 and September 30 across Convert, futures points, copy trading, and event markets, the platform's late-September calendar offers a natural checkpoint for these engagement trends.

Regulatory and Real-World Expansion

Gate US COO Laura highlighted the Gate US Card, a Visa debit card issued via Lead Bank that allows eligible U.S. users to top up with USDT, USDC, BTC, or ETH, with balances auto-converted to USD for everyday spending via Apple Pay or Google Pay. Gate US currently holds 37 state-level Money Transmitter Licenses and serves customers across 47 U.S. states and territories.

On the AI front, Gate Europe CEO Dr. Giovanni Cunti addressed the growing role of artificial intelligence in digital finance, emphasizing that security, data governance, and human oversight remain essential as Gate Europe explores practical AI applications within its MiCA-authorized framework — the European Union's Markets in Crypto-Assets regime.

Source: Metaverse Post