Ethereum R1 is a new donation-funded, tokenless Layer 2 rollup designed to offer a decentralized, censorship-resistant, and governance-minimized scaling solution for Ethereum

The S&P 500 rose 0.63% Thursday, boosted by strong Meta and Microsoft earnings, but futures slipped Friday as investors awaited the April jobs report and weighed Apple and Amazon tariff concerns. Gold fell to $3,235 as easing trade tensions cut safe-haven demand; markets await US jobs data for rate cut signals. The Coindesk Indices, which tracks the broader crypto market, rose 2.19%, with Bitcoin and Ether up 2.57% and 2.60%, respectively in the past 24 hours. Trade these markets and more with up to 500x leverage on Bybit MT5 using this 

Today's top performer is AR, which gained 16.8% following CloneX's successful migration to Arweave, sponsored by ArDrive.

Arweave (AR), founded in 2017, is a decentralized network for permanent data storage, using blockweave and Proof of Access to ensure long-term accessibility. It offers 200-year storage for a one-time fee, incentivized by AR tokens for miners. The system connects blocks efficiently to preserve and retrieve data, aiming to create a lasting digital knowledge repository. CloneX has successfully 

 to Arweave for permanent storage, with the support of ArDrive, which sponsored the migration of 100 GB of data. The process is nearly complete, with only Animus remaining to undergo decentralization.

Check out the latest prices, charts, and data of 

 is a new donation-funded, tokenless Layer 2 rollup designed to offer a decentralized, censorship-resistant, and governance-minimized scaling solution for Ethereum. Built on open-source code and the Nethermind Surge stack, it emphasizes credible neutrality, public good funding (with all fees burned after 2030), and infrastructure that remains free from VC control or centralized dependencies.

Yesterday, BTC spot ETFs saw $71.1M in total inflows, with $16M from GBTC and $55.1M from other ETFs.

 $BOOP tokens to active Solana memecoin traders and creators who promote memecoins or Solana dapps on X. To claim, users must connect their Solana wallet or X account and launch a free token. The airdrop arrives in 30 days, but growing the token’s market cap can accelerate the reward.

Beginner

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Ethereum R1 offers a decentralized rollup solution for Ethereum

This article dives into Bitcoin liquid staking protocol Lombard Finance, how LBTC works and how you can stake LBTC through Bybit Web3.

Bitcoin stands as the undisputed giant of the cryptocurrency space, commanding the largest market capitalization. Yet, much of its potential remains untapped, often sitting idle as a store of value rather than actively participating in the thriving 

 ecosystem. Lombard Finance aims to change this narrative by unlocking Bitcoin's utility and integrating it seamlessly into DeFi.

Lombard is built upon Babylon, the innovative Bitcoin staking protocol, and is incubated by Polychain Capital. Lombard’s flagship product, 

 (LST) for BTC. This article explores what Lombard Finance is and how LBTC works, and describes the Lombard ecosystem and how you can stake LBTC through Bybit Web3.

 is a liquid staking protocol that focuses on transforming 

's role in the digital economy. Its core mission is to evolve BTC from simply being a store of value — also viewed as 

 — into a productive asset that actively generates yield and participates within DeFi. Currently, a significant portion of Bitcoin's

 sits idle, lacking the native staking capabilities or cross-chain composability seen with assets such as 

Lombard Finance addresses this shortcoming by building on top of 

, a protocol that supports BTC staking without needing 

 or custodians. Babylon allows Bitcoin's economic weight to secure other 

 (PoS) chains and applications, creating a new yield source for holders. Lombard leverages this foundation to offer LBTC, making staked BTC liquid and usable across the DeFi market.

Lombard’s goal is ambitious: to channel Bitcoin's vast liquidity into DeFi. This could potentially double the ecosystem's 

 (TVL) if even a fraction of available BTC is introduced. Lombard believes this integration will catalyze significant growth and create more sustainable market dynamics by making BTC a core, yield-bearing primitive within DeFi.

Founders and investors of Lombard Finance

Lombard Finance was founded in April 2024 by a team with deep expertise within DeFi, drawing talent from established crypto projects like Polychain, Babylon, Argent, Coinbase and Maple. This collective experience underpins the protocol's design and strategic direction.

The project was notably incubated by Polychain Capital, a prominent crypto investment firm that also led Lombard's $16 million seed funding round (which was 

 in July 2024). This round saw participation from a wide array of significant players in the crypto space — including Babylon, dao5, Franklin Templeton, Foresight Ventures, HTX Ventures, Mirana Ventures, Mantle EcoFund, Nomad Capital, OKX Ventures and Robot Ventures — thus highlighting broad industry confidence in Lombard's vision. Strategic partnerships and contributions from exchanges like

 and Bitget are further bolstering its distribution and liquidity aggregation efforts.

LBTC is Lombard Finance's flagship product — a liquid staking token (LST) that represents Bitcoin staked through the Babylon protocol. Designed as a universal liquid BTC standard, LBTC is fully backed 1:1 by native Bitcoin, ensuring its value is directly tied to the underlying asset.

The token is yield-bearing, capturing rewards generated from securing PoS networks via Babylon staking. Crucially, LBTC remains liquid, meaning holders can freely use it across various DeFi applications — such as 

 and automated vaults — without sacrificing their underlying staked positions or associated yield.

LBTC is also designed for cross-chain compatibility, natively minted on supported blockchains like Ethereum, Base and Sui and using secure infrastructure [such as 

]. This avoids the risks associated with traditional bridging or wrapping methods, thus aiming to provide a more secure and seamless way to utilize Bitcoin across the multichain DeFi ecosystem.

Lombard Finance simplifies the process of putting Bitcoin to work within DeFi through its LBTC token. The mechanism is designed with security and user experience in mind, leveraging the Babylon protocol and a robust Security Consortium.

The core benefit of LBTC lies in its ability to unlock multiple layers of value simultaneously. Holders earn native yield from Babylon staking, potentially accrue additional rewards (such as Lombard Lux points) and gain access to diverse DeFi yield opportunities, all while maintaining the liquidity of their Bitcoin position. This transforms BTC from a static asset into a dynamic, yield-generating component of the DeFi ecosystem.

Lombard Finance is actively building a wide LBTC ecosystem that already boasts over 75 DeFi integrations. Security is foundational, anchored by the 14-member Security Consortium (including prominent names like Galaxy and OKX Ventures) and validating all critical operations alongside audits and bug bounties.

Core infrastructure relies both on Babylon for staking, and on the Chainlink CCIP for secure cross-chain movement, with EigenLayer integration 

. LBTC integrates with leading DeFi applications across lending platforms (e.g., 

) and automated vaults. The platform supports multiple blockchains (including Ethereum, Base, Sui, BNB Chain) and 

 (L2s), positioning LBTC as a versatile cross-chain asset.

Here's how you can stake BTC on Lombard and use LBTC in DeFi and automated vaults.

Lombard Finance (via its LBTC token) offers a compelling way for Bitcoin holders to put their assets into use, earn yield via Babylon staking and gain exposure to the expansive DeFi ecosystem — all while maintaining liquidity. Incubated by Polychain Capital and supported by a robust consortium and growing partner network, Lombard is positioning LBTC as a secure and versatile liquid Bitcoin standard.

It’s easy to participate in the Lombard ecosystem through 

, you can utilize your Bybit Web3 Seed Phrase Wallet to stake BTC and mint 

, Lombard's vault token that represents deposits in automated yield strategies. This provides you with a seamless gateway to access Bitcoin liquid staking and DeFi yields.

Ready to unlock your Bitcoin's potential? 

Intermediate

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Lombard Finance: Polychain-backed Bitcoin liquid staking protocol

The cryptocurrency market has entered a phase reminiscent of past altcoin seasons, primarily driven by Bitcoin's recent rebound to the $94K–$96K range. 

Altcoin season might have come with reviveding speculation 

The cryptocurrency market has entered a phase reminiscent of past altcoin seasons, primarily driven by Bitcoin's recent rebound to the $94K–$96K range. This resurgence has sparked renewed interest among retail traders, shifting focus from Bitcoin to smaller, more speculative altcoins. The overall market saw a 10% increase in value during the final eight days of April, contrasting with Bitcoin's 7% gain. This trend indicates a growing appetite for risk among investors, particularly in meme coins, which have seen a surge in social media discussions.

However, caution is warranted as elevated crowd enthusiasm often precedes market corrections. Historical patterns suggest that when buzzwords like "altseason" are dominating discussions, it may signal an impending price exhaustion. The current market dynamics reflect a shift toward speculative investments, raising concerns about the sustainability of this enthusiasm.

Bitcoin's bullish sentiment substantially improves

Bitcoin's position as the leading cryptocurrency has remained steady, with discussions around its price fluctuating significantly. Following a period of pessimism, when predictions dipped as low as $10K–$69K, sentiment shifted dramatically with the price recovery. Now, optimistic projections of $100K–$159K are dominating conversations, indicating a reversal in trader sentiment.

Despite Bitcoin's consistent presence in market discussions (approximately 25% of asset topics), the ratio of bullish-to-bearish commentary has grown increasingly favorable. This suggests a growing confidence among traders bolstered by Bitcoin's recent performance. However, it’s essential to monitor whether this bullish sentiment translates into sustained investment, or if it leads to overconfidence that may trigger a market pullback.

Ethere, once a robust contender in the altcoin arena, has struggled to regain retail investor confidence despite recent bullish commentary and promises of innovation from co-founder Vitalik Buterin. Its social media presence has dwindled to about 6–7% of discussions, a significant drop from previous years. This decline highlights the challenges Ethereum faces in re-establishing itself as a go-to investment in a market increasingly dominated by speculative assets.

Conversely, XRP has seen a notable increase in optimism surrounding ETF approvals, with expectations rising to 85%. This shift reflects a broader trend of institutional interest in cryptocurrencies, potentially paving the way for significant capital inflows. Meanwhile, Dogecoin's potential ETF listings have sparked renewed interest, transforming its image from that of a meme coin to a legitimate investment option. The growing dialogue surrounding institutional adoption of Dogecoin and XRP indicates a pivotal moment for these assets, suggesting they may play critical roles in the evolving cryptocurrency landscape.

Advanced

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Bybit x Santiment social sentiment report: Altcoin sentiment recovers despite Bitcoin’s resilience

Bybit Spread Trading allows traders to simultaneously buy and sell two related instruments in order to hedge risk or profit from price discrepancies. Read more.

Whether markets are flying high or wobbling unpredictably, one thing remains true: traders are always looking for smarter ways to 

 and find profit opportunities. That’s where Bybit Spread Trading comes in. This feature is tailor-made for those who want to go beyond basic buy/sell plays and start taking advantage of price discrepancies between related instruments. In this guide, we’ll walk through exactly how Bybit Spread Trading works, why it matters and how you can start using it today, whether you’re 

is a newly launched Bybit feature that allows users to simultaneously buy and sell two related instruments — such as Spot, Perpetual or Expiry contracts with different settlement dates — in order to hedge risk or profit from price discrepancies.

This type of trading strategy is popular among institutional and professional traders because it enables more precise, controlled market exposure. However, with Bybit’s interface, the barrier to entry is significantly lowered, opening the door for individual traders to tap with just a few clicks into a powerful set of tools.

At its core, Spread Trading on Bybit is about executing what’s called a combo trade. This means entering two positions at once: one long, one short. These positions are taken on related instruments, such as a BTC Spot trade and a BTC Perpetual contract, with the idea that their prices will either converge or diverge in a way that benefits your position.

When you place a buy combo, you’re buying the instrument with the longer expiration (the “far leg”) and selling the one that expires sooner (the “near leg”). 

A sell combo is the reverse: selling the far leg and buying the near leg. The profit (or loss) comes from how the spread between these two instruments shifts over time.

For example, if you believe the spread between a Perpetual and a Quarterly Futures contract will widen, you can buy the combo. If the spread increases after your entry, that movement becomes your profit. Bybit calculates your 

 prices automatically, based on the mark prices and your defined “order price,” so there’s no need to manually crunch the numbers.

Perhaps the most important feature here is atomic execution. This ensures both sides of your combo trade are filled together, in equal quantities, or the trade doesn’t go through at all. It removes “leg risk,” which is the danger of getting filled on one side of the trade, but not the other. In volatile markets, that alone can save you from an unwanted mess.

Spread Trading on Bybit currently supports combinations such as Spot and Perpetual, Spot and Expiry, Perpetual and Expiry, or even two Expiry contracts with different dates. This flexibility lets you build strategies that align with different market outlooks — bullish, bearish or neutral.

There’s a strong reason why Spread Trading is a go-to for many experienced traders: it allows for strategic plays that are more sophisticated than just guessing price direction. On Bybit, it’s not only powerful, but also convenient.

First, you get price certainty. Your spread is locked in at the price you specify. There’s no 

 between legs because the entry prices are automatically calculated and matched. You’re trading the spread, not the individual legs.

Secondly, the trading experience is smoother. Instead of placing two separate orders and manually trying to sync them, Bybit handles everything as a single transaction. You don’t have to worry about whether one leg gets filled and the other doesn’t — that risk is eliminated through atomic execution.

Third, this setup is a great hedge against volatility. By taking opposing positions on two related contracts, you reduce exposure to sharp price movements. Your P&L becomes more about the relative performance between contracts, rather than the market direction itself.

There’s also a strong cost advantage. Trading spreads on Bybit is significantly cheaper than doing it manually. You pay only half the trading fees you’d incur if you placed two individual trades on the order book. For high-volume or 

, that translates to meaningful savings over time.

Finally, it unlocks strategy flexibility. Whether you're 

 funding rates between Spot and Perpetual, doing 

 with different Futures contracts or taking advantage of price convergence before expiry, this platform gives you the tools to execute those ideas efficiently.

How to get started with Bybit Spread Trading 

Now that you have a better understanding of how Bybit Spread Trading works, let’s look into how to get started. Please note that you’ll need to have a Bybit account in order to proceed. If you don’t already have one, please check out our 

 for more information on how to create a Bybit account.

: Log in to your Bybit account and hover your cursor over the 

: The available spreads are organized in a grid, with each tile representing a unique combo. Choose your preferred combo to trade.

Tiles with a border around them signify that Spread Trading offers a better price. Hover over a tile for more details, or use the bar at the bottom of the grid to explore more options.

On the order placement page, set up your order with the following parameters:

to place your order. A pop-up window will appear for you to confirm your order details. Then, click on 

Congratulations — you’ve successfully placed an order!

You can view your Spread Trading orders from any trading page (Spread Trading, Spot and Futures), as they all share the same order data.

 to view your active orders. You’ll be able to view the combo, underlying asset, order price and more. 

If you would like to adjust your order parameters, you may click on the pencil icon under 

. To cancel your order, simply click on the order’s corresponding 

to view your completed orders. To view each order’s information on each leg, click on the order’s corresponding 

button. For additional insights, click on 

Spread trading isn’t for everyone — but if you’re someone who enjoys strategic trading, hedging or arbitrage, it’s a tool worth adding to your arsenal. It appeals to traders who are less interested in taking a directional bet, and more focused on capitalizing on inefficiencies in the market.

You don’t have to be a pro trader to benefit, either. The simplified execution and intuitive UI mean even intermediate users can explore advanced strategies without being overwhelmed. As long as you understand how spreads work, and how your P&L is affected by their movement, you’re already halfway there.

More importantly, in times of market uncertainty or low volatility — when price action feels sluggish — spread trading gives you an alternative way to profit. It keeps you in the game — even when momentum plays aren’t cutting it.

Bybit Spread Trading is a powerful tool that combines simplicity with sophistication. Whether you're looking to hedge, save on fees or experiment with 

 strategies, it offers a clean and user-friendly way to do so. With lower risk, lower costs and plenty of flexibility, Bybit Spread Trading is a smart move for any trader looking to level up their game — especially when markets get messy.

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Bybit Spread Trading: Smart strategies for market swings

Altcoins

Following hot on the trail of Dogecoin, Shiba Inu is the latest 'meme' coin to gain popularity. Read all about it here.

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 appeared, many new cryptocurrencies offered alternatives in terms of how they are used. The likes of 

 added new real-world functions and services. And there is also 

, a cryptocurrency influenced by internet memes that were created.

As the “joke” approach goes on, a Dogecoin-inspired cryptocurrency was born — Shiba Inu (SHIB) coin.

The SHIB coin is a meme-based cryptocurrency that uses the Japanese Shiba Inu dog breed for its logo. SHIB started gaining attention during the bullish market of spring 2021 but the real momentum gained after Elon Musk’s SNL appearance.

Let’s take a look at some of the features such as the coin’s background, goals, and functionalities so that you can get a better idea if SHIB is a good investment for you.

SHIB is often referred to as a joke-influenced cryptocurrency that plans to outpace and be bigger than Dogecoin. The token working on the Shiba Inu 

 is — as we know it now — called SHIB, and it is an 

Shiba Inu is a project launched in the Ethereum network. This is the reason the consensus mechanism of Shiba Inu is the same as the consensus mechanism of Ethereum: 

The PoW mechanism entails that the mining rewards are based on the computational power of the nodes. The PoS mechanism bases 

As noted above, SHIB tokens are ERC-20 tokens in the Ethereum network. Such tokens are fungible, meaning that they can be replicated because each one has an equivalent value.

The total supply of Shiba Inu is 1 quadrillion SHIB. This is an extraordinarily huge supply. Therefore, even though the supply of SHIB is limited, it is still large enough to have inflationary properties. As of October 2022, the 

 of Shiba Inu is around 549 trillion SHIB.

At launch, 50% of the total supply of SHIB was locked on 

, and the other 50% was sent to a crypto address belonging to Vitalik Buterin, an Ethereum co-founder. These coins sent to Buterin are considered “burned,” even though they are still available if Buterin decides he wants to utilize them.

 DEX will be used for trading various cryptocurrencies with SHIB tokens. ShibaSwap claims that it will be one of the safest and 

A look at the ShibaSwap Decentralized Exchange (DEX). Source:

, users can deposit tokens in the SHIB pool of ShibaSwap to 

. ShibaSwap is going to use terms such as DIG, BURY, FETCH, TREAT, and BONEFOLIO. By “digging” SHIB tokens, you provide liquidity to the SHIB pool and earn BONE tokens (soon to be released).

By “burying” SHIB tokens, you can stake tokens in the Shiba Inu blockchain and get rewarded with additional SHIB tokens. “Fetching” allows you to directly swap your SHIB tokens with other tokens. “Treat” is another token that is expected to release very soon. Last but not least, “Bonefolio” is the portfolio where you can access your stash. 

A Visual representation of how BURY and DIG options work on Shiba Inu. Source: Shiba Inu Woofpaper

 released along with ShibaSwap has a total of 230 million tokens. The BONE tokens can be used for voting as well as trading. Shiba Inu plans to focus these tokens on the field of decentralized finance (

 that operates as an ERC-20 token in the Shiba Inu blockchain. This token has a much lower supply compared to SHIB and BONE, with only 107,647 LEASH.

Because of this relatively low supply, the price of LEASH is much higher, with the highest of all time being close to $8,900 on May 11th, 2021. LEASH can be purchased on both 

Let’s begin with the origin of the name Shiba Inu. Shiba Inu is a Japanese dog breed. This breed inspired internet memes with the name “Doge” in the 21st century. The meme became so big that it inspired some computer programmers to start a cryptocurrency based on it, which they called 

Initially, Dogecoin did not have any noticeable success. As the years went by and its community increased, Dogecoin started to become a serious investment. This influenced other people to launch their own cryptocurrencies based on 

, or simply based on Dogecoin itself. In this way, Shiba Inu was created.

The founder of Shiba Inu is anonymous and goes by the pseudonym of Ryoshi. But unlike other Dogecoin-influenced coins, Shiba Inu actually has a specific goal: surpassing Dogecoin. Shiba Inu plans to achieve this by providing more and better services than Dogecoin. Such services might be the very ones ShibaSwap soon plans to implement.

or any other sort of development funding. This might be one of the reasons why some of its features, such as ShibaSwap, are going to be added over time and were not included in the initial launch of the project.

The 50% of the total supply that went to Vitalik Buterin was initially considered as burned tokens. This was not the case when Vitalik Buterin actually used 

 that battles COVID-19 struggles in India.

Buterin’s donation accounted for approximately $1 billion worth of SHIB tokens. While this might have had a slightly negative impact on the price of SHIB, it helped to expand the Shiba Inu community even more.

SHIB started its price journey in August 2020 with a price lower than $0.00000001. These very low prices persisted throughout 2020 and into the beginning of 2021.

The price followed the bullish trend of the market as it started increasing, reaching new highs of $0.000003 which shortly grew to $0.00003 in May 2021, marking a 3,300% price increase within a week. This was followed by its biggest increase of all time in October 2021 when the price reached $0.000088.

By January 2022, the price had gone back down to $0.00003. The price has slowly decreased since and is trading around mid-2021 levels at $0.00001.

As of October 10 of this year, the price of SHIB is around $0.000011. With a supply of around 549 trillion SHIB, the 

 is near $5.9 billion, while the fully diluted market capitalization is around $6.4 billion. This market cap places SHIB at number 14 in the crypto market cap ranks.

Currently, Shiba Inu has launched its native DEX — 

along with the new tokens that are present in the Shiba Inu blockchain, such as the BONE, LEASH, and TREAT tokens. It also has an 

with many social advantages such as joining their exclusive club, direct communication with team members, etc.

The launch of the ShibaSwap DEX, the aforementioned tokens, and its burn mechanism are likely to make Shiba Inu look like a much more serious project, as the field of DeFi seeks utilization. Additionally, Shiba Inu is working on its 

which the SHIB ecosystem will eventually migrate to once it has been completed.

Shiba Inu has developed another project named Shiba Inu Rescue. This project involves rescuing actual Shiba Inu dogs that are lost or in need of rescuing. Using AmazonSmile 

, people can help out by donating to this project.

The best part about the project is that it does not require any direct donations at all. Whenever you use AmazonSmile to order a product, you can type Shiba Inu Rescue along with the organization name, and a percentage of the money you spend on buying the product goes to Shiba Inu Rescue. 

Such a project establishes a positive and trustworthy environment within the Shiba Inu community. Projects like these are one of the reasons why some people no longer look at Shiba Inu as a joke cryptocurrency, but as something much more serious in the long run.

As mentioned, SHIB gets its name from its similarity to Dogecoin. However, it is not like every other doge-based 

. SHIB is actually one of the first cryptocurrencies planning to “kill” Dogecoin. Hence, some people refer to Shiba Inu as a Dogecoin Killer. 

When you think about what SHIB and Dogecoin bring to the crypto market, the former might have the upper hand as it offers more services for its users. Since Dogecoin has the support of 

like Elon Musk and is more popular than SHIB, it is difficult to forecast whether it can actually become bigger than Dogecoin. Ultimately, only time will tell.

Shiba Inu has promised additional upgrades in the network as well as the addition of new features. One of these features will be their very own L2 on Ethereum along with a 

called Doggy DAO to involve the community in deciding the future of SHIB.

exclusively on Shibarium. If it happens, users will finally be able to buy and sell 

with their SHIB tokens through the exchange. Moreover, Shiba Inu has launched the Shiba Artist Incubator, by which they plan to recruit ten artists to create works that may then be minted as official Shiba NFTs. 

In terms of the price of Shiba Inu, some experts believe that it may increase at a steady rate in the long run due to active upgrades while others think it is just a meme coin and will always remain as that. Also, keep in mind that Shiba Inu is heavily influenced by Ethereum since it is built within the Ethereum network. This will likely be the case for the upcoming L2 Shibarium as well, while Ethereum continues to upgrade its blockchain on 

To conclude, SHIB has slowly started to shift from a “joke” coin into a serious cryptocurrency. With ShibaSwap’s plans for updates and NFTs, the network is very likely to enter the watchlists of many investors. It still has a long way to go before becoming a serious competitor to Dogecoin, but it is definitely on the right track to do so.

So, with the newfound knowledge in crypto, why not sign up for Bybit?

A Beginner’s Guide: What Is Shiba Inu (SHIB) Coin?

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A Beginner’s Guide: What Is Shiba Inu (SHIB) Coin?

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