Mar 10, 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 — Fed likely to stay put amid softening job market

US job growth stabilized last month, with nonfarm payrolls increasing by 151,000 in February 2025, while the unemployment rate rose to 4.1%. This mixed report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics suggests a softening labor market, with more people out of work permanently, a decline in federal government jobs and a rise in part-time workers due to economic conditions. The number of individuals holding multiple jobs reached nearly 8.9 million.

Concerns about US president Donald Trump's policies have added to the uncertainty, as persistent inflation and reduced consumer spending might lead businesses to reconsider hiring. Economists predict that continued government actions, such as tariff hikes and spending cuts, could have a further impact on job creation.

The advance in hiring was primarily in the healthcare, transportation and financial sectors, but government payrolls saw their weakest growth in nearly a year. The report reflects the initial impacts of Trump’s second term, with significant job cuts anticipated due to federal layoffs.

Additionally, restrictions on immigration may hinder job growth. The labor market participation rate dropped to its lowest in two years, particularly among men, while the number of part-time workers rose to a four-year high, pushing the broader underemployment rate up.

Average hourly earnings increased by 0.3%, but economists warn that layoffs from major companies could lead to a rise in unemployment in the coming months. The Federal Reserve is expected to maintain interest rates, awaiting clearer signs of inflation trends.

Weekly crypto highlight — strategic reserve proposal fails to lift sentiment

De-risking in the crypto derivatives markets persisted following President Trump's proposal to include Bitcoin, Ether and three other tokens in a national strategic crypto reserve. While Trump's announcement briefly boosted crypto prices, it didn’t improve premiums or open interest for Bitcoin futures on the CME. The basis, reflecting the annualized expected return from selling Bitcoin futures while buying spot, experienced a momentary increase, but quickly fell back, indicating that US institutional investors remain cautious.

Perpetual futures, popular among non-US investors seeking leverage, also mirrored this trend, with their funding rate hitting negative levels not seen since September 2024. Trump's announcement did little to enhance sentiment on the CME, as the basis remained in single digits during Bitcoin's brief recovery. It’s noted that Trump's policies continue to disrupt broader financial markets, with crypto failing to act as a safe haven amid global uncertainty.

Increased liquidations and record outflows from Bitcoin exchange-traded products suggest ongoing risk aversion. Even crypto investors, traditionally tolerant of volatility, are opting to stay on the sidelines as they observe the early months of Trump's second term. Although Trump's pro-crypto stance previously propelled Bitcoin to new heights, his recent tariff policies and unpredictable geopolitical maneuvers have unsettled the crypto landscape.

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Weekly Institutional Insights: Job market softens; ETF outflows send headwind to crypto

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

Crypto price movements remain heavily influenced by US president Trump’s policies. Recently, several SEC cases against crypto firms were dropped, which is positive for the industry. This was followed by Trump’s announcement to include BTC, ETH, XRP, SOL and ADA in a US strategic crypto reserve. However, ongoing bearish sentiment in risk assets, highlighted by a decline of over 5% in the S&P 500 since its February all-time high, has negatively impacted crypto. 

Consequently, BTC and ETH have experienced heightened volatility, resulting in an inversion of their at-the-money implied volatility term structures, with strong demand for short-term protective puts.

Please check out the report’s highlights.

President Trump’s announcement on Mar 2, 2025 regarding a US crypto reserve to include BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP and ADA led to a sharp rally in their spot prices. However, funding rates for these tokens have remained subdued, compared to previous highs seen before Trump’s inauguration on Jan 20, 2025. Over the past week, long positions have paid a consistently positive rate across all coins, indicating a lack of strong short demand and potentially robust demand for long positions.

The rally in spot prices following Trump’s announcement of a US crypto strategic reserve to include ETH quickly reversed, as his ongoing tariff pledges contributed to bearish sentiment in risk assets. This volatility has pushed realized volatility above options-implied levels to monthly highs, leading to increased demand for short-term options. The term structure of volatility has inverted, with short-term volatility skewing toward puts as traders seek protection against potential downside.

Open interest in Solana (SOL) options declined at the end of February, with over $5M in calls and more than $3M in puts expiring, most of which weren’t rolled into new positions. Despite SOL trading 44% below its January all-time high, the majority of new positions have been in calls. However, this new positioning is disappointingly weak, given SOL's inclusion in the list of tokens for a crypto strategic reserve announced by Trump alongside BTC, ETH, XRP and ADA.

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Bybit X Block Scholes crypto derivatives analytics report (Mar 7, 2025): Investors seek protection as strategic reserve news rattles market

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) linked to cryptocurrencies have seen notable activity, particularly in response to the recent market downturn. 

Market volatility and geopolitical influences

The cryptocurrency market has been marked by extreme price fluctuations in recent weeks, primarily influenced by political events and economic conditions. A notable catalyst has been US president Donald Trump’s aggressive financial policies, including his unexpected announcement of a US crypto strategic reserve. Initially, this announcement led to a surge in prices; however, the market quickly reversed, raising doubts about the effectiveness of government intervention in stabilizing the crypto sector.

Bitcoin, the top cryptocurrency, experienced a significant drop of 28.3% from its all-time high of $109,115, closing February at $78,226. This decline coincided with a heated exchange between Trump and Ukrainian President Zelensky, which unsettled the crypto community amid discussions about potential tariffs and geopolitical stability. The broader crypto market lost over $640 billion in just 25 days, showcasing a direct correlation between traditional stock market movements and cryptocurrency trends.

Investor behavior has been characterized by emotional responses, including fear of missing out (FOMO) and fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD). These reactions have often led to price movements that contradict prevailing predictions. For example, during Bitcoin’s price decline, many retail traders panicked and sold off their holdings, only to witness a rebound shortly after. Conversely, price surges driven by FOMO frequently result in subsequent corrections, allowing larger investors (or 

Social media trends indicate a shift in trader sentiment, with discussions around high price targets for Bitcoin suggesting a market top, while talk of lower price expectations may signal a bottom. Recent data reveals a decline in discussions related to speculative investments, indicating a growing caution among retail investors. This shift toward stablecoins and Layer 1 tokens reflects a healthy level of fear that could potentially set the stage for bullish momentum in the future.

The role of ETFs and institutional interest

 (ETFs) linked to cryptocurrencies have seen notable activity, particularly in response to the recent market downturn. Significant outflows from crypto-backed ETFs occurred as investors reacted to declining asset values, resulting in heightened trading volumes. The interplay between ETF movements and underlying crypto assets continues to be crucial for assessing market health and investor confidence.

Despite the current volatility, institutional interest in digital assets remains strong, as indicated by Bitcoin's network growth and ETF trading volumes. This ongoing institutional engagement may provide a stabilizing effect on prices over time. Historically, periods of extreme pessimism in the market have preceded major bull runs, suggesting that traders could soon shift from panic to accumulation.

In conclusion, while the cryptocurrency market faces immediate challenges, the long-term outlook may be more optimistic. If key macroeconomic conditions improve and institutional buying increases, Bitcoin could potentially rise above the $100,000 mark by the end of 2025. For now, traders must navigate the volatility wisely to position themselves for future rewards.

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Bybit x Santiment: Crypto strategic reserve unnerves market; investors turn cautious

A crypto strategic reserve is essentially a state-sanctioned reserve of Bitcoin or other digital assets designed to function similarly to the gold reserves held by governments.

Over the past year, cryptocurrencies have gained more acceptance and legitimacy in the eyes of government officials and politicians. One positive result of this development is the concept of a Bitcoin and crypto strategic reserve, which aims to create a state-backed store of value similar to the more traditionally held gold reserves.

In this article, we’ll explore what a Bitcoin and crypto strategic reserve is, Trump’s executive order establishing the strategic reserve and the broader political and market implications of such a move.

Trump's signs executive order for US crypto strategic reserve

In August 2024, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump publicly supported the idea of a US Bitcoin reserve during his campaign, arguing that a state-backed digital asset would not only boost national prestige but also provide a critical counterbalance in an increasingly digital financial ecosystem.

On Mar 2, 2025, President Trump announced a broader 

 that would extend the idea to other major cryptocurrencies, such as ETH, SOL, XRP and ADA.

 an executive order (EO) to establish a “Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile.” Both the reserve and stockpile would contain BTC and other digital assets held by the Department of Treasury that were seized from criminal proceedings. However, the EO also mentioned the possibilities of developing “budget-neutral strategies for acquiring additional bitcoin” without using public funds.

The initial market reaction to the Mar 2 announcement was positive. All of the coins mentioned in the reserve saw significant buying and short covering, which led to double-digit gains across the board. For example, BTC was up 12%, ETH gained 16%, SOL rallied by 28% and XRP saw a major 35% gain. ADA was the biggest gainer, rallying as high as 72% following the announcement. 

While immediate reactions were positive, there were also several prominent figures, even within the crypto community, who questioned the inclusion of other assets — apart from Bitcoin — into initiatives for the strategic crypto reserve.

However, following Trump’s executive order to establish the strategic reserve on Mar 7, BTC 

 by around 5.7%, as market participants were left underwhelmed. Despite David Sacks, Trump’s crypto and AI tsar, calling the reserve a “digital Fort Knox,” investors were disappointed that this signalled no additional purchases of Bitcoin or other digital assets.

A Bitcoin strategic reserve is essentially a state-sanctioned reserve of Bitcoin designed to function similarly to the gold reserves traditionally held by governments. It's a common practice of governments to hold gold as a reserve to protect their national currencies in case of an emergency. Gold often forms a large share of forex reserves for most countries. The table below shows the top 10 nations holding gold reserves as of Feb 7, 2025.

Since Bitcoin has largely gained acceptance as 

, the idea behind a Bitcoin strategic reserve is to create a decentralized, secure vault system whereby Bitcoin is stored and managed by federal governments. By allocating a portion of national reserves to Bitcoin, governments could theoretically strengthen their balance sheets and diversify away from fiat currencies that are vulnerable to inflationary pressures.

Proponents of such a move argue that Bitcoin’s finite supply and decentralized nature makes it an effective store of value. Its global acceptance and increasing institutional interest lend further credibility to this idea.

In July 2024, US Senator Cynthia Lummis introduced the “Boosting Innovation, Technology and Competitiveness through Optimized Investment Nationwide” 

. It’s a legislative proposal aimed at establishing a strategic Bitcoin reserve in the United States. The press release from Senator Lummis’s office outlines several critical components of the bill, as follows:

What does the strategic reserve mean for the future of Bitcoin?

The idea of a Bitcoin strategic reserve is innovative, and aims to use Bitcoin to improve the balance sheet of nation states. This could be a win-win, as Bitcoin would benefit from increased legitimacy while nation states would be holding an asset that potentially provides better returns than those of gold. 

While there will be no immediate acquisition of Bitcoin from the US government, the reserve implies that there will be no selling pressure from the roughly 200,000 BTC (almost $17.4 billion) held by the US government. However, it remains to be seen if other strategies to acquire additional BTC without incurring cost to US taxpayers will be implemented.

Beginner

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Crypto Strategic Reserve: The BITCOIN Act and beyond

Altcoins

Memes

Dogecoin has been one of the most trending cryptocurrencies of 2021, but what's all hype about? We investigate in this article.

 is one of the most mentioned cryptocurrencies on social media, rising spectacularly in value and taking the crypto market by storm. Starting out as a meme coin in 2013, it’s become one of the most 

With Elon Musk completing his purchase of Twitter, there’s speculation he’ll integrate Dogecoin into Twitter, which is creating considerable hype. Not surprising, then, that Doge has shot into the 

. However, due to its uncertain nature, there’s plenty to consider before deciding to invest in it. You need to know a little about the coin itself, the people who run it — and its upcoming plans.

Dogecoin, whose name comes from an internet meme of a Shiba Inu dog, is a decentralized 

 with a large and active community. Since it’s a decentralized crypto, people can conduct peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions with it. Like all cryptos, it runs on blockchain technology.

 have a limited supply, but Dogecoin doesn’t. As of November 2022, around 132 billion DOGE are in circulation. Approximately 5 billion DOGE will enter the circulating supply each year, with an annual foreseeable 

Since there’s no central authority in a blockchain to regulate transactions, 

 are in charge. They confirm transactions and then update the information in a virtual ledger called a 

. Nodes require computational power, in addition to tremendous amounts of electricity, in order to solve complex mathematical problems that lead to confirmation of the transaction. 

In the case of the DOGE network, it rewards

 with Dogecoin to compensate for their efforts in a process called mining. The nodes who verify transactions on the Dogecoin blockchain are Dogecoin

, the information “block” is shared with the Dogecoin blockchain, and other nodes check the information it contains. This shared consensus mechanism, 

 (PoW), is used by many other cryptocurrencies, most notably Bitcoin.

To illustrate, if someone wishes to send you funds worth 50 Dogecoin, nodes on the DOGE blockchain “compete” to solve the mathematical problem in order to verify the transaction. After a node or

 pool verifies the transaction, other nodes will check its validity. If more than 50% of the nodes agree that the transaction is valid, then the payee in the transaction receives the 50 DOGE. This entire process is “decentralized,” meaning that there are no third parties that require additional fees to complete the transaction.

DOGE transactions are verified on a new block approximately every minute or so, which makes Dogecoin one of the most efficient cryptocurrencies in the world as compared to other large-cap cryptocurrencies, which may take hours to process transactions.

 or virtual), Dogecoin needs to be properly stored somewhere safe. When it comes to cryptocurrencies, crypto wallets are responsible for the security of your virtual funds. Let’s look at some options for storing cryptocurrency, such as Dogecoin.

: Dogecoin can also be stored in online hot wallets, such as those of Binance, Kraken, Dogecoin Core (software that makes your PC a node) or MultiDoge.

Nonetheless, crypto wallets don’t ensure the safety of an entire blockchain. Technically speaking, the Dogecoin blockchain or any other crypto blockchain can be hacked if one entity 

 in a blockchain. However, while this is theoretically possible, in order for it to occur, one miner or mining group would need to obtain enough hash power to take command of 51% or more of a blockchain network — which would require an almost incomprehensible amount of hashing power. 

While this type of attack has never occurred on Dogecoin’s network, in 2014 an individual named Ryan Kennedy used an alias (“Alex Green”) to create an exchange called “Moolah,” absconding with a large amount of Dogecoin in October of that year. He was

Before buying any cryptocurrency, ensure you’re using a safe crypto exchange. Every exchange is different, with various security protocols, transaction fees and numbers of cryptocurrencies supported. Some of the safest and most reputable crypto exchanges currently supporting Dogecoin include Bybit, FTX, Kraken, and Binance. 

The term “doge” originates from an internet meme representing a Shiba Inu dog. Ever since Bitcoin was launched, every other cryptocurrency that’s followed has either tried to be “as good as” Bitcoin — or better, by trying to resolve Bitcoin’s issues of scalability and accessibility. 

Dogecoin’s creators, Jackson Palmer and Billy Markus, wanted to create a lighthearted cryptocurrency with a “fun” approach, basing their cryptocurrency on the internet meme of a Shiba Inu dog and launching it on December 6, 2013. Although the Dogecoin community embraced the coin as a “fun” investment, Dogecoin quickly acquired serious uses, including 

Thus, a cryptocurrency that began as a joke quickly morphed into something much more substantial. 

Ultimately, the biggest factor in Dogecoin’s growth has been its backing by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has actively posted on social media for the past decade. Considered a 

 investor, Musk can heavily influence crypto prices by transacting large amounts of coins at one time and through his social media reach (most notably through his recent purchase, Twitter). Followers’ knee-jerk reactions to his posts can create 

 that causes rapid spikes or valleys in the price of DOGE. (And no, Musk was never the CEO of Dogecoin.)

Intriguingly, just days earlier, Musk had run a poll on his Twitter account asking if Tesla should accept Dogecoin, with an overwhelming number of respondents voting “yes” — which prompted Musk to accept Dogecoin 

 a month later, hinting at future purchasing power (using DOGE) for SpaceX merchandise.

In addition to its reputation as a “fun” crypto, Dogecoin is one of the most 

, adding to its cachet and popularity in an age of anthropogenic global warming. Musk has dropped hints that Twitter could function as a “super app” and a competitor for China’s WeChat. For instance, Dogecoin could potentially be used as a currency for transactions, though this is speculative — and yet one more source of price volatility while the Dogecoin community waits for Musk’s larger plans involving Dogecoin to materialize.

 was $0.0002. Although it experienced brief spikes, its price remained in this range through 2016, and then began to experience peaks during the bull runs that began in 2017.

By May 5, 2021, DOGE had reached a remarkable all-time high of $0.73, with a 

 of $56 billion, pushing it to the top five cryptocurrencies by market cap.

At the time of this writing (November 1, 2022), DOGE is trading at around $0.14 after pumping 100% in the past two weeks, which began with Musk’s official acquisition of Twitter. DOGE has a current market cap of almost $19 billion, ranking it above other Layer 1 blockchains such as Solana, Cardano and Polkadot.

 that Dogecoin may keep increasing in value, both in the short and long term. Its price could reach $0.28 in 2024, and $0.36 by 2026.

 a decrease in the price of DOGE in the long run, and at a much slower rate, with a high of only $0.02 by 2025.

, who predict a relatively small decrease, both short- and long-term, with DOGE’s price potentially reaching $0.15 by the end of 2025.

, foresee a much larger increase, predicting DOGE could increase to $0.27 by 2026. However, in order to grasp where Dogecoin may head, let’s look at some factors which can determine its price. 

Is It Worth Investing in Dogecoin (DOGE)?

The low value of Dogecoin makes it an ideal asset for new investors to buy, experiment and familiarize themselves with the crypto world. Therefore, the use of Dogecoin for low-value transactions, or for tipping creators on social media, may continue to grow. However, the volatile nature of the currency and its constant supply make it a weak contender as an investment asset. 

Simply put, experts opine that Dogecoin is safe as a transactional currency but not as a speculative asset, or as a store of value. It might lack the cutting-edge technology of Bitcoin or Ethereum, but its utility is indisputable. 

To conclude, Dogecoin has become one of the most popular cryptocurrencies in the crypto market. While it may seem to investors that Dogecoin has “missed the boat” in terms of making large gains, there’s still the potential to grow. However, only time will reveal Dogecoin’s true potential.

While Dogecoin may not be a “serious” cryptocurrency, investing in it can indeed still be very profitable, as has proven the case for many investors in early 2021. With investment in any asset (crypto or not), there are risks involved. As the old mantra goes: Only invest what you can afford to lose. And as always, do your own research before you invest.

What Is Dogecoin (DOGE) and How Does It Work?

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