Mar 17, 2025: Our weekly Institutional Insights explores the latest market developments — market performance, industry news, exchange-traded fund (ETF) flows, trending topics, upcoming events and token unlocks — to help you supercharge your crypto trading.

 explores the latest market developments — market performance, industry news, exchange-traded fund (ETF) flows, trending topics, upcoming events and token unlocks — to help you supercharge your crypto trading.

Weekly highlight — consumer sentiment falls

US consumer sentiment has fallen to its lowest level in over two years, reflecting growing concerns about the economic impact of tariffs. According to data from the University of Michigan, the preliminary sentiment index for March 2025 dropped to 57.9 from 64.7 in February, the lowest level since November 2022. This decline was worse than expected by a Bloomberg survey of economists.

Inflation expectations surged, with consumers anticipating a 3.9% annual price increase over the next five to ten years, the highest rate over three decades. Additionally, consumers expect prices to rise by 4.9% over the next year from 4.3%, marking the steepest rise since 2022.

As US president Donald Trump’s tariff policies expand, consumers across the political spectrum increasingly worry that these extra duties will lead to higher costs. Despite recent inflation cooling, ongoing price pressures could lead households to reduce discretionary spending.

The survey also indicated a record low in consumer expectations regarding personal finances, with respondents estimating only a 48.7% chance of stock market gains in the coming year. Joanne Hsu, 

 the University of Michigan, emphasized that uncertainty surrounding economic policies complicates financial planning.

Some analysts warned that declining consumer confidence poses a significant threat to spending, as fears of an economic downturn may deter purchases of major items. Overall, the current conditions gauge and the expectations index fell to their lowest levels in several months, showcasing widespread consumer apprehension.

Weekly crypto highlight — Bitcoin see slight life in the past weekend

Bitcoin rebounded from a four-month low earlier this week alongside other risky assets recovering from recent market turmoil. Economic uncertainties driven by a wave of tariffs from President Trump and the threat of a government shutdown have led to significant sell-offs across various asset classes, including cryptocurrencies.

“As we conclude a week of widespread selling, markets are experiencing a relief rally from oversold conditions,” stated Ravi Doshi, Co-Head of Markets at FalconX. The avoidance of a US government funding shutdown has eased market uncertainty.

On Friday, Bitcoin rose by as much as 6.2%, reaching $85,301, while smaller digital assets surged even more: Solana gained over 9%, Chainlink increased by 13% and XRP rose nearly 8%. Earlier in the week, Bitcoin had dropped to around $77,000, a significant decline from its all-time high of $109,000 in January 2025.

This slump triggered record outflows from Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, and large liquidations in crypto derivatives markets. Crypto markets are bouncing back as macro-driven liquidations seem to be pausing. Analysts suggest that ongoing macroeconomic stability may support crypto prices.

Advanced

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Weekly Institutional Insights: Consumer sentiment falls as crypto recovers from 4-month low

Our weekly crypto derivatives analytics report delves into macro events, the current state of crypto and trading signals from spot trading volume, and futures, options and perpetual contracts.

The ongoing sell-off in risk-on assets has intensified bearish signals in derivatives markets for crypto assets. Funding rates indicate a demand for short exposure, futures prices are trading below spot prices and volatility smiles are showing a strong skew toward OTM puts as traders hedge against further declines. The at-the-money (ATM) volatility term structure has inverted again after a lack of clarity around Trump’s proposed strategic digital asset reserve caused short-dated volatility to fall briefly before last weekend.

Please check out the report’s highlights.

Choppy spot price movements have had an impact on funding rates, with BTC and altcoin rates reacting primarily to spot fluctuations, rather than long-term market views. ETH has sold off more sharply during declines, and hasn’t participated as strongly in relief rallies, resulting in the worst YTD performance among the five tokens in Trump’s proposed digital asset stockpile. This is reflected in funding rates, with ETH perpetual swaps showing strong demand for leveraged short exposure to further downside risk.

Investors continue to protect against further decline

Despite higher realized volatility increasing both short- and long-tenor implied volatility, options trade volumes remain low. Last Friday’s expiration of significant open interest was mostly for downside protection against a deepening sell-off. However, the options market has reverted to an inverted term structure, which had dissipated during last Friday’s White House crypto summit, with strong relative demand for short-dated put contracts.

Open interest in Solana (SOL) options declined at the end of February, with over $5M in calls and more than $3M in puts expiring and most positions not rolled over. Despite SOL trading 44% below its January ATH, most new positions are in calls. However, this new positioning is disappointingly weak, given SOL's inclusion in Trump’s crypto reserve announcement alongside BTC, ETH, XRP and ADA.

Beginner

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Bybit X Block Scholes crypto derivatives analytics report (Mar 14, 2025): Investors hedge further declines

BinaryX has rebranded to Four, uniting GameFi, IGOs, and MemeFi under one ecosystem. With BNX now FORM, Four continues to innovate in blockchain gaming."

Having launched in May 2021, BinaryX, which started out as a 

 (DeFi) platform, has continued to evolve and adapt to the rapidly changing blockchain landscape. However, in the spirit of adaptability and innovation, the platform switched to 

, focusing its attention on play-to-earn (P2E) games.

As a GameFi platform, BinaryX has also created an 

 (IGO) launchpad from which developers can launch GameFi projects.

Now, BinaryX has rebranded to Four in order to align with the mission of its 

 product, a launch platform for the meme coin ecosystem.

Let's learn more about BinaryX and the way it continues to shape the crypto market with innovative products and adaptable business models.

 hub for the development of GameFi projects, includes an IGO launchpad to facilitate developers in launching games. 

BinaryX began in 2021 as a decentralized derivative trading system that featured the use of 

. But in 2022, the BinaryX team gradually evolved its project into a GameFi platform in order to adapt to the increased demand for P2E games. Its aim is to make web3 games more accessible and approachable to the vast community of gamers.

BinaryX also developed an IGO launchpad to serve as a comprehensive hub for gaming developers to launch their GameFi projects, and for investors to receive early access to promising new play-to-earn games. Furthermore, the BinaryX team announced the incorporation of a 

 (DAO) into its GameFi ecosystem so that its community of token holders could participate in voting on governance matters.

In February 2025, BinaryX rebranded to Four in order to align with its latest product, Four.meme, which was launched in July 2024. Following the rebrand, its native token, BNX, would now become FORM to reflect the project's commitment to innovation and adaptability.

As one of the top web3 platforms on BNB Chain, BinaryX has continued to innovate and experiment with different business models to adapt to the blockchain landscape's fast-paced nature. To this end, BinaryX has the following diverse products under its wing.

BinaryX launched its Initial Game Offering (IGO) launchpad in May 2022 as a dedicated platform to support blockchain gaming projects. The launchpad helps game developers secure funding for decentralized video games. They also get a platform on which to build communities and accelerate their web3 game development.

By leveraging BinaryX’s expertise in GameFi and its existing user base, projects gain exposure to a vast community of crypto gamers. The platform offers early access to promising blockchain games, allowing investors to participate in token sales and 

 presales. BNX holders can use their tokens to vote for games' listings on the BinaryX platform, and they also receive rewards, such as game tokens and NFT 

Some notable games launched on the BinaryX IGO launchpad include 

. These games showcase BinaryX’s commitment to innovation in GameFi, integrating play-to-earn mechanics, NFTs and decentralized governance to help create immersive gaming ecosystems.

BinaryX's GameFi trading platform is a marketplace designed for seamlessly trading blockchain gaming assets, including NFTs, in-game tokens and virtual items. Launched to support the growing GameFi ecosystem, the platform enables gamers and investors to buy, sell, trade and auction assets from BinaryX-powered games in a secure and efficient manner.

 and DeFi principles, BinaryX ensures transparent transactions with minimal fees, and enhances liquidity for in-game assets while empowering players to maximize their earnings.

The BinaryX GameFi trading platform supports transactions involving 

In January 2022, BinaryX launched the BinaryX DAO, a first for a GameFi project, through which BNX token holders can participate in the project's community governance, determine airdrop and dividend ratios, and submit proposals on how to improve the BinaryX ecosystem.

Case in point: BinaryX's community participated in voting for/against the platform's rebranding to Four during a community vote that was held from Sep 21–23, 2024.

The BinaryX Treasury serves as the financial backbone of the BinaryX ecosystem, supporting the development and sustainability of its GameFi projects. Some sources of assets used to fund the treasury include initial capital injection by the BNX team, income from gaming activities, income from the IGO launchpad and profit from external investment.

Profits in the BinaryX Treasury are used to reward BNX stakers, incentivize BinaryX sidechain node providers and finance strategic investments in third-party projects.

BNX is the native token for the BinaryX platform. Its original maximum supply of 2.1 billion tokens was adjusted to 580 million after a community vote in late July 2024.

Distribution of the 580 million BNX tokens is as follows:

Following BinaryX's rebranding to Four, BNX will change to FORM, and holders will be allowed to exchange to the new token at a ratio of 1:1 (details to follow at a later date).

BinaryX has integrated a multi-token model. Apart from BNX, the other two tokens associated with the platform are as follows:

BinaryX officially rebranded to Four on Feb 21, 2025, following an overwhelming vote via its DAO, marking a significant transformation in its vision for GameFi and DeFi innovation. This shift comes with a revamped website, which will serve as a hub for the GameFi platform, IGO launchpad and Four.meme, a new addition to Four’s expanding ecosystem.

Following the rebranding, a 1:1 token migration from BNX to FORM is necessary in order to enhance the token's identity and align with the project's new direction. FORM remains on the BNB Chain, ensuring smooth compatibility with existing infrastructure.

 (CEXs) won’t need to do anything — the token swap to FORM will take place automatically. BinaryX will liaise with these exchanges to switch from the BNX contract address to the one for FORM.

 (DEXs), cold wallets and self-custody wallets will need to carry out a manual token swap based on a converter provided by BinaryX. To carry out this token swap, you’ll need to do the following:

 landing page (link will be provided at a later date).

4. Sign to authenticate your transaction to receive the FORM tokens.

5. Add the new FORM contract address into your wallet to see the new tokens.

You can buy BNX as a USDT Perpetual contract (

) on the Bybit trading platform. However, the BNXUSDT contract will be delisted on Mar 17, 2025, 9AM UTC, so make sure to close your open positions and cancel your active orders for BNXUSDT as soon as possible.

Over the years, BinaryX has consistently demonstrated strong performance. The rebranding of BinaryX to Four marks a bold step forward in its mission to impact the web3 space. This transformation reflects the project’s commitment to expanding its ecosystem, enhancing token identity and integrating innovative elements, such as Four.meme, alongside its GameFi platform and IGO launchpad.

By adapting to the evolving crypto landscape, Four is positioning itself as a comprehensive hub for web3 and gaming enthusiasts so that it can offer a seamless experience for gamers, investors and meme culture participants. The introduction of the FORM token ensures a more cohesive and recognizable branding, reinforcing Four’s long-term vision. Thanks to the smooth migration process from BNX to FORM, users can continue participating in the ecosystem while benefiting from enhanced liquidity and utility.

Four remains dedicated to GameFi innovation, supporting successful blockchain games such as 

, all of which feature play-to-earn mechanics, NFTs and decentralized governance. The revamped platform is designed to foster a dynamic gaming economy, support new game launches and provide a secure environment for trading digital assets. With its rebranding and expanded offerings, Four is set to lead the next wave of blockchain gaming and DeFi innovation, uniting gamers, developers and investors in a vibrant web3 ecosystem.

Intermediate

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From BinaryX to Four: A unified hub for GameFi, IGOs and MemeFi

Learn about the benefits of using Bybit Pay and the step-by-step instructions to get started with Bybit Pay now.

Traditional financial systems and blockchain-based ecosystems have long operated in silos, creating friction for users and businesses alike. 

 is a new payment solution that’s been designed from the ground up to solve this issue to make cryptocurrency transactions seamless for any users.

With the aim of mainstreaming crypto payment options, Bybit Pay has already begun partnering with traditional payment solution providers, enabling users to transact with cryptocurrencies through existing infrastructure. For example, with its recent 

, Brazilian users can now shop by using cryptocurrencies in a quick and effortless manner. 

In this article, we’ll explain the benefits of using Bybit Pay and provide step-by-step instructions for new users who want to get started with the platform.

With more than 60 million users on the Bybit platform, Bybit Pay empowers merchants with access to the global network of its vast user base. Meanwhile, users benefit from a seamless integration with web3 wallets that makes paying with crypto as easy as paying with fiat currency. The platform also offers collateralized payment tools that allow users to borrow against their NFT and crypto holdings. 

Through these innovative features, Bybit Pay blends the ease of traditional finance with the flexibility of cryptocurrencies, creating an ecosystem that benefits both users and merchants.

Bybit Pay can be accessed using the Bybit App on mobile and desktop. 

While filling in the form, make sure that the information you enter matches the information you’ve already provided during 

: As of now, only verified users in Brazil can make transactions using a Pix QR code.

Since the Pix integration, Brazilian users can use Bybit Pay wherever Pix is accepted. This opens up a vast network of offline establishments in the country, since Pix is Brazil’s leading instant payment system provider. 

In addition to offline establishments, Bybit Pay can also be used with a number of e-commerce providers for online shopping using cryptocurrencies. Bybit Pay will be available to users from other regions soon.

With the launch of Bybit Pay, Bybit is integrating crypto payments with traditional payment services providers — and vastly expanding the number of places where cryptocurrencies can be used.

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How to use Bybit Pay for effortless payments

Bybit Learn

Altcoins

Crypto

Litecoin has always been a top crypto for various reasons. Here are the ins and outs of Litecoin. Dive in and decipher LTC's prospects.

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Little more than a decade has passed since the cryptocurrency market first emerged. Its growth has been exponential, with the market capitalization of Bitcoin alone surpassing $524 billion as of May 23, 2023. Even with the creation of thousands of cryptocurrencies aimed at solving various problems, Bitcoin has continued to dominate the market. 

, such as Litecoin, are still in use today, despite debates about their antiquated concept. Litecoin has recently attracted the market's attention once again due to its upcoming halving event.

Despite its lack of support for smart contracts, and characteristics largely similar to those of Bitcoin, Litecoin has remained in the top 20 cryptos in terms of

. More recently, Litecoin has managed to overtake Polkadot (and meme coin Shiba Inu) to claim number 13 on the list.

What is Litecoin — and why has its valuation remained so high among thousands of other cryptocurrencies? In this article, we’ll discuss what Litecoin is, its history and how it works.

The Litecoin network was founded on Oct 13, 2011, and was originally created as a fork of Bitcoin (BTC) to improve on three main issues faced by the Bitcoin network — speed, scalability and centralization.

Litecoin is designed to be an ideal digital assets payment method for merchants and consumers, providing instant transaction confirmations. It uses a

 (PoW) consensus to secure the network, similar to Bitcoin. However, the

 used by its network is different from that of Bitcoin. Litecoin uses 

, while Bitcoin uses SHA-256. This will be discussed in more detail.

Whenever miners complete a block, they earn LTC rewards. However, as with Bitcoin

, the mining rewards for Litecoin decrease over time. This mechanism is built into the Litecoin protocol to control the issuance rate and ensure a limited supply of the cryptocurrency. Based on the previous halving event on Aug 5, 2019, Litecoin now offers 12.5 LTC per completed block. The next halving event will take place around Aug 3, 2023, and will decrease mining rewards to 6.25 LTC per completed block. 

The upcoming Litecoin halving event has generated significant buzz and anticipation within the cryptocurrency community, especially since it’s just a couple of months away. Scheduled to occur at regular intervals of approximately four years, the halving event is an integral part of Litecoin's monetary policy. 

The primary implication of the Litecoin halving event is a reduction in the rate at which new Litecoins are created. This scarcity mechanism is designed to curb inflation by providing a deflationary aspect to the cryptocurrency. With each halving, the reward for miners diminishes, which may potentially impact their profitability. Consequently, this event has been known to trigger changes in the mining landscape, as miners reevaluate their strategies and assess the viability of their operations.

Historically, Litecoin halving events have had significant effects on the price and market sentiment surrounding the cryptocurrency. For example, in the months preceding its 2019 halving event, LTC price experienced a surge, growing from $30 in January to a high of $141.82 on Jun 23, 2019. 

Likewise, before its 2015 halving event, LTC price rose from a low of $1.45 in May to $7.66 on Jul 9, 2015.

Does Past Performance Indicate Future Results?

Previous halvings have often been associated with bullish trends, as reduced supply coupled with sustained demand has led to upward price movements. However, it’s crucial to note that past performance is not indicative of future results, and the cryptocurrency market is highly volatile and influenced by numerous factors.

As the next Litecoin halving event approaches, market participants and enthusiasts are eagerly observing its potential impact. Traders and investors closely monitor price movements and analyze market conditions to gauge the short- and long-term implications of the halving. 

Additionally, the event often generates renewed interest in Litecoin, attracting newcomers to the cryptocurrency space who wish to capitalize on potential price surges or explore the technology behind this established digital asset.

The upcoming Litecoin halving event represents an important milestone in the cryptocurrency's journey. The event's effects on mining profitability and market sentiment remain to be seen, but it is undoubtedly capturing the attention of the cryptocurrency community as they await the next chapter in Litecoin's development.

Litecoin was specifically designed to reduce the amount of time it takes to validate a new block, and to uphold storage efficiency. In this section, we’ll take a look at some of its properties.

Litecoin has a transaction processing speed of 54

, which is significantly higher than Bitcoin’s transaction processing speed of 5 TPS.

The block mining time for Litecoin is two and a half minutes, which is four times faster than the ten minutes it takes for Bitcoin to generate blocks. As a result, Litecoin’s network is able to achieve a higher throughput.

 is used to power Litecoin’s PoW consensus mechanism, giving the network a lower barrier to entry and allowing more individuals to participate in the Litecoin mining process. 

This contributes to the network’s decentralization, given that mining power is no longer concentrated among bigger players who can afford expensive equipment such as

The fee structure of Litecoin is 1/50th the size of Bitcoin’s, which drastically reduces transaction costs.

Litecoin’s Scrypt hashing is designed to be more secure than alternative functions against hardware brute-force attacks. Even after a decade, Litecoin hasn’t suffered any major exploits, demonstrating its reliability as a cryptocurrency.

 (MimbleWimble Extension Block) upgrade allows users to opt in as necessary to conduct private transactions, and transaction anonymity is guaranteed — so that a transaction amount is known only to the sender and receiver.

 to learn more about how Litecoin remains among the top 20 cryptocurrencies even after a decade.

Litecoin was founded in October 2011 by Charlie Lee, a computer science graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and former Google employee. Addressing Bitcoin’s slow transaction speed and lack of scalability, Lee decided to create a “lighter” version of Bitcoin that would facilitate faster transactions and greater scalability, along with lower transaction fees.

In 2013, Lee joined Coinbase as the Director of Engineering. When this news reached the market, the price of Litecoin increased tenfold, from $3 to $30.

When Litecoin's price peaked at €300 in December 2017, Lee

, undermining investor confidence and sparking rumors of Litecoin price manipulation. However, Lee made it clear that his concern for a potential conflict of interest as a result of his growing influence over Litecoin was the reason for his actions. More details can be found

Lee left Coinbase in 2017, and is currently heading the Litecoin Foundation, focused on the development of Litecoin.

Like Bitcoin, Litecoin operates on an open-source blockchain that isn't under the control of a single central authority. To ensure that new Litecoin transactions don’t contradict the blockchain's transaction history, each Litecoin node operator has a copy of every blockchain, and miners assist in processing new transactions by including them in recently mined blocks.

 of 84 million LTC on its total supply (four times that of Bitcoin).

Litecoin mining can result in orphaned blocks. When two miners complete a block at nearly the same time and the chain initially accepts both, but later rejects one, orphaned blocks are created. The low block confirmation time results in a large number of orphaned blocks. The Segregated Witness (

) protocol tackles this problem and reduces the number of orphaned blocks.

Litecoin uses a hashing algorithm called Scrypt. The Litecoin development team initially chose Scrypt to prevent ASIC miners from controlling mining. ASIC mining was initially less suited to the Scrypt mining algorithm's higher memory requirements, which increased opportunities for other miners, including those who used

 technology. However, ASIC-based mining with Scrypt support has evolved over time. Therefore, due to inferior computational capabilities, CPU- and GPU-based miners no longer possess useful LTC mining equipment, as ASICs produce significantly more hashes per second.

 facilitate the exchange of cryptocurrencies on different blockchains, or cross-chain trading. This adds interoperability to the Litecoin blockchain.

A pre-mine, which enables the developers of a blockchain-based cryptocurrency to mine coins before the project is made public, was largely avoided with Litecoin. Pre-mining was initially used to pay the project's founders and finance its creation.

Many community members at the time desired alternative currencies with a fair launch, similar to that of Bitcoin. When Litecoin first launched, Lee addressed these issues, stating that it’s "against the decentralized vision of Bitcoin" for one person or group to control a significant number of coins and use them however they see fit.

One week prior to Litecoin going live, Lee made its source and binary codes available so that users could test mine it. A poll on the Bitcointalk forum was used to choose the time of launch so that users could select the time that best suited them. Since everyone was aware of the launch date, and only needed to make a small change to their files to begin mining actual Litecoin, everyone was able to mine simultaneously.

However, Litecoin still had a modest pre-mine. The genesis block — that is, the first one on the network — was pre-mined with a total of 150 LTC, with two additional blocks mined to confirm its validity. The reward for mining one block when Litecoin first launched was 50 LTC, which was essentially worthless at the time.

In a blockchain, transaction data is stored in blocks. The block is made available to any system participant (referred to as a 

) who requests to see it. Litecoin miners verify the block by using mining software to solve difficult mathematical puzzles, in order to be granted permission to add new transactions to the blockchain. After a miner confirms the block, it’s added to the blockchain and the miner is rewarded with LTC.

Litecoin can be mined using ASIC mining devices with pre-installed mining software. On the other hand, if you're mining with a CPU or GPU you must choose your own program, while keeping security in mind. A software product might contain malware, and other shady, if not malicious, activities should also be on your radar. 

Once you've chosen your mining equipment, you’ll need to decide whether to mine alone or in a group. If you mine by yourself, you run the risk of going a long time without finding a block. However, if you succeed, you keep the entire LTC block reward, plus fees. Keep in mind that you can only achieve this if you have sufficient hash power, which requires multiple ASICs.

Furthermore, if you use a GPU or CPU to mine LTC on your own, there’s almost no chance that you’ll ever make any money. The benefits of pool mining outweigh those of solo mining, but the rewards are divided among the pool members according to the hash power they’ve contributed.

As of May 23, 2023, the two largest cryptocurrencies in the market are Bitcoin and Ethereum, accounting for 44.47% and 18.68% of

There are specific differences between Litecoin, Bitcoin and Ethereum, particularly in terms of consensus mechanism, security and scalability. To learn more, please refer to

You can trade Litecoin on most cryptocurrency exchanges, including Bybit. Bybit offers both the

 Perpetual Contracts. You can buy LTC with the USDT stablecoin via a Perpetual contract with leverage. Simply fund your verified account with USDT, or first convert another cryptocurrency to USDT. 

Even though Litecoin has been overshadowed by Bitcoin, it still ranks among the top 20 cryptocurrencies — even as thousands of new cryptos have been added. This is a good indicator of LTC’s strength. Furthermore, with the upcoming halving event, Litecoin is likely to gain even more traction in the crypto market. Given the highly capable technical team behind Litecoin, we can certainly look forward to seeing continued development and innovation. That said, we would still recommend you do your own research before investing any of your money in cryptocurrencies.

Explained: What Is Litecoin (LTC) and How Does It Work?

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