Over the past week (February 23rd to March 2nd), the cryptocurrency market continued to warm up, driven by a marginal improvement in macro sentiment and a rotation in capital structure. Bitcoin steadily oscillated upwards, and market risk appetite gradually recovered. According to data from the Huobi HTX platform, market capital is no longer solely focused on top-tier assets but has begun to spread to high-elasticity sectors such as AI and DeFi. Among them, PERP saw a weekly increase of over 100%, and the AI sector blossomed in multiple areas, showing continued focus from capital on projects that combine innovative narratives with practical applications.

DeFi Sector Rebounds Strongly: PERP Leads Gains, RIVER Continues Hot Streak

In the current market environment, the overall recovery of the DeFi sector, especially "application-type" protocols with real trading scenarios and liquidity foundations, is more likely to gain capital recognition.

● PERP (Perpetual Protocol): The top gainer this week, rising 106% weekly. Perpetual Protocol is a decentralized derivatives exchange (DEX) built on the Ethereum and xDai networks, allowing traders to conduct leveraged trades of up to 10x on assets including BTC, ETH, DOT, SNX, YFI, and more.

● RIVER (River): Rose another 75% this week. As an important supplementary project in the DeFi ecosystem, River is building a chain-abstract stablecoin system that connects assets, liquidity, and yields across multiple blockchains. Huobi HTX has simultaneously launched a $RIVER Earn product with 20% APY, enriching its yield dimensions.

AI remains one of the core narratives with the highest market attention. Overall, AI assets are shifting from single-point breakouts to group resonance, with multiple assets strengthening synergistically. The market's exploration of the AI+Crypto integration path continues to deepen.

● ROBO (Fabric Protocol): Weekly gain of 79%. Fabric is one of the recently popular AI projects. As a representative project combining AI and robotics technology, it is attracting widespread market attention to the Openmind ecosystem. As AI applications gradually extend from the software level to physical scenarios, related concept assets possess stronger imaginative potential.

● SAHARA (Sahara AI): Rose 72% this week. Sahara AI is the first "AI-native" full-stack blockchain platform where anyone can create, contribute, and monetize AI development outcomes, making future AI more open, inclusive, and fair. Against the backdrop of increasing trends in combining computing power, models, and on-chain data, close attention should be paid to the directions of AI infrastructure and computing power networks.

● ALICE (My Neighbor Alice): Weekly gain of 45%. My Neighbor Alice is a multiplayer building game where anyone can buy and own virtual islands, collect and trade non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and meet new friends. The game is inspired by successful titles like Animal Crossing.

Meme and Layer1 Sectors Warm Up: BEBE and ESP Perform Well

● BEBE: The Meme sector showed significant warming this week, with BEBE rising 86% weekly. BEBE is an AI-driven cryptocurrency and GameFi project. Meme assets often exhibit high elasticity during market sentiment recovery phases, becoming an important vehicle for short-term capital speculation.

● ESP (Espresso): The Layer1 sector representative asset ESP rose 77% this week. Espresso is a global confirmation layer that provides fast, reliable transaction confirmations for L2 chains, backed by BFT consensus. The expansion of public chain ecosystems and increased developer activity are key drivers of valuation recovery.

Multi-Sector Rotation Pattern Established, Structural Market Trends Continue

Looking at the market from February 23rd to March 2nd, assets on the Huobi HTX platform exhibited characteristics of rising risk appetite and elastic assets leading the breakouts. AI and DeFi formed the core main themes, while multiple sectors like Layer1 and Meme rose simultaneously. The structural market trend is gradually transitioning towards a comprehensive recovery.

As AI applications deepen, DeFi functions evolve, and infrastructure upgrades advance, the main market themes for the next phase may become clearer, with rotational opportunities in quality assets across multiple sectors continuing to emerge. Huobi HTX will continue to strictly select quality sector assets to help users seize market opportunities.

About Huobi HTX

Huobi HTX was established in 2013. After 12 years of development, it has evolved from a cryptocurrency exchange into a comprehensive blockchain business ecosystem encompassing digital asset trading, financial derivatives, research, investment, incubation, and other businesses.

Huobi HTX, as a leading global Web3 portal, adheres to a development strategy of global expansion, ecological prosperity, wealth effect, and security & compliance, providing comprehensive, secure, and reliable value and services to virtual currency enthusiasts worldwide.

To learn more about Huobi HTX, please visit https://www.htx.com/ or HTX Square, and follow us on X, Telegram, and Discord. For further inquiries, please contact [email protected].