From March to April 2026, on-chain capital and data showed a clear divergence trend. Total stablecoin market cap surpassed $320B and continued to expand, while RWA scale grew in parallel, with capital remaining on-chain for allocation. At the same time, the Drift and KelpDAO incidents triggered deleveraging and capital migration, shifting market focus from activity metrics toward security, risk pricing, and absorption capacity. Against this backdrop, Gate Research released its latest on-chain data report, analyzing current market dynamics across activity, capital flows, and protocol structure.
- Capital is filtering for quality: transaction count and active addresses declined, but on-chain capital did not contract significantly, with lower-quality interactions gradually clearing out.
- Stablecoins and RWA continue to expand: capital is increasingly positioned for asset allocation, with settlement assets and yield-bearing assets converging.
- Security incidents reshape capital flows: the Drift and KelpDAO events triggered capital migration and rising rates, leading to structural disruption in cross-chain flows and TVL.
- Inter-chain competition logic is shifting: Solana maintains high activity but shows weaker price performance, Ethereum sees both fees and price rise, while Base and Polygon demonstrate internal capital reallocation strength.
- Price recovery leads fundamentals: BTC and ETH rebounded significantly, with most addresses returning to profit, while on-chain activity and TVL have yet to recover in tandem.
The report concludes that capital has not exited on-chain markets, but is actively repricing risk and return under the impact of security events. The key going forward lies in whether stablecoin inventory can be converted into sustainable revenue, and how different chains perform in terms of security and liquidity absorption capacity.
Discover more details today → Gate Research: Frequent DeFi Security Incidents, Repricing of Protocol Security and Risk-Bearing Capacity
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.
Gate Team
April 23, 2026
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