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.

After initially resisting US president Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs, crypto markets joined the global sell-off, with BTC falling from $87K on April 2 to a low of $74K. BTC’s term structure was inverted again before easing, while ETH’s term structure remained inverted. Meanwhile, short-term BTC volatility skews favored OTM puts, reflecting more bearish sentiment than during the Q1 2023 US banking crisis. However, volatility levels decreased after Trump announced a 90-day pause on tariffs (excluding those on China), leading to a significant rally in spot prices.

Please check out the report’s highlights.

BTC open interest declined substantially this week

Bybit’s largest perpetual swap markets initially remained stable during the broader market sell-off and tariff reactions, recovering from the dip after the 

. However, Trump’s recent announcement and subsequent pause of near-unilateral import tariffs significantly impacted these markets, leading to notable declines in open interest for BTC and ETH, which have fallen sharply from their late March highs.

After a brief period of positive funding rates, BTC’s perpetual swap market fluctuated between positive and negative sentiment, indicating traders were hesitant to commit to a strong directional move (similar to trends in options markets). This changed when President Trump announced a 90-day tariff relief, leading to positive jumps in funding rates. Altcoins displayed a similar pattern, with funding rates alternately positive and negative before rising following the tariff announcement.

During the April 6–7, 2025 sell-off, traders sought downside protection, as BTC's spot price fell to $75K in reaction to President Trump’s tariff announcement. The high volume of put options relative to calls indicates strong demand for this protection. Meanwhile, the US's reciprocal tariffs caused a significant inversion in BTC’s at-the-money volatility term structure, which, although it has eased, remains inverted. Additionally, there‘s a stronger skew toward OTM puts at short tenors as compared to the March 2023 US banking crisis. Put open interest has surged over the past week, reflecting extremely bearish sentiment for both the near and long terms.

Advanced

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Bybit X Block Scholes crypto derivatives analytics report (Apr 9, 2025): Tariffs bring substantial volatility at a level similar to that of the Q1 2023 US banking crisis

In this tutorial, we’ll explore how you can stake and mint Lombard LBTCv on Bybit Web3 Staking with the Bybit Web3 Seed Phrase Wallet. 

In this tutorial, we’ll explore how you can stake BTC to mint 

Please note that in order to get started, you’ll first need to download the Bybit App on the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. 

How to stake and mint LBTCv with Bybit Web3 Staking

: Launch the Bybit App on your mobile device and tap on the 

: Deposit BTC into your preferred Bybit Web3 Seed Phrase Wallet BTC address.

: Once you’ve deposited BTC into your wallet address, tap on the 

drop-down and select the BTC address into which you’ve deposited BTC. 

: Input the exact amount of BTC you’d like to stake, and tap on 

 and sign the message to allow this exact amount of BTC to be staked.

 page. Ensure that the amount of BTC is exactly the same as you wish to stake, and tap on 

: Tap on the icon located at the upper-right corner of the screen to check your transaction history.

: You’ll receive LBTCv in three progressive stages:

: Once you’ve received LBTCv, you can check your points (updated every hour).

If you wish to stake more BTC, simply repeat Steps 7 through 12. However, please

that you won’t be able to stake more BTC as long as you haven’t yet received your LBTCv.

To redeem your LBTC, simply scroll down the 

button. Then, wait three days for the successful redemption of LBTC.

If you wish to cancel your redemption, you can do so within these three days.

Beginner

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How to stake and mint Lombard LBTCv with Bybit Web3 Staking

A Chainlink Spot ETF would bridge TradFi and crypto, offering a simplified way to gain exposure to LINK without the complexities of digital wallets or exchanges.

There's been a recent surge in spot ETF applications as investors look for ways to sidestep the rigid frameworks of traditional finance. The success of 

 — drawing billions in inflows — signals a major shift in the way institutions approach crypto investments. 

 networks, is in line for its own Spot ETF. The proposed fund promises a direct, hassle-free way to invest in Chainlink (LINK), eliminating the need to deal with complex 

 and exchanges. This article explores what a Chainlink Spot ETF is, how it would work, its current market impact and what its potential approval could mean for investors and the broader crypto landscape.

A Chainlink Spot ETF is an exchange-traded fund, backed by Chainlink (LINK) tokens, that would directly track the market price of LINK, a cryptocurrency powering decentralized oracle networks, thus enabling investors to gain exposure without directly holding the asset itself.

 (ETF) would offer investors direct exposure to LINK’s price movements without requiring the investors to handle the digital asset directly. 

Authorized Participants (APs), typically large financial institutions or market makers approved by the ETF issuer, play a central role in maintaining liquidity and aligning the ETF’s market price with its net asset value (NAV). These entities facilitate the creation and redemption of ETF shares by acquiring LINK tokens from exchanges or over-the-counter markets, and transferring them to the ETF’s custodian, a regulated entity responsible for secure storage. 

In exchange, the ETF issuer provides APs with newly created shares, which represent fractional ownership of the underlying assets. The shares are then introduced to secondary markets for investors to trade.

Creation, redemption and listing of shares

When redeeming shares, APs collect ETF shares from the market and return them to the issuer, receiving LINK tokens from the custodian in return. These tokens can be sold on the open market or held, depending upon the AP’s strategy. This creation-redemption process enables an 

 mechanism that stabilizes the ETF’s price, relative to its underlying assets. 

If the ETF is trading at a premium to NAV, APs create and sell shares to capitalize on the price difference, pushing the market price downward. Conversely, if the ETF is trading at a discount, APs redeem shares, reducing supply and driving the price upward. This dynamic ensures that the ETF’s market price remains closely tied to LINK’s actual value. 

Shares are listed on exchanges and traded like traditional stocks, integrating seamlessly into existing portfolios while offering potential tax efficiencies. The structure combines the accessibility of conventional investments with the benefits of cryptocurrency exposure, appealing to those seeking indirect participation in LINK’s market movements through a regulated and familiar framework. For investors, the ETF will simplify exposure to Chainlink by eliminating the need to manage 

 or wallets, or navigate complex crypto exchanges. 

The Hashdex Nasdaq Crypto Index US ETF, which includes Chainlink (LINK), has gained attention as a significant development in the crypto ETF space. This ETF, 

 in February 2025 and currently provides exposure to Bitcoin and Ethereum. 

 with the SEC on Mar 14, 2025 to expand the ETF's scope to include additional cryptocurrencies like LINK, ADA and SOL. This application remains the sole filing for a Spot Link ETF (as of Mar 20, 2025). While the SEC has approved the fund's initial structure, its response to the inclusion of Chainlink and other assets remains pending.

The SEC has historically been cautious about approving spot cryptocurrency ETFs, due to concerns about market manipulation and investor protection. However, the approval of multi-asset ETFs such as NCIQ signals a potential shift in regulatory attitudes. Market sentiment has been cautiously optimistic, with investors viewing these developments as a step toward broader acceptance and integration of cryptocurrencies into traditional financial systems. The timeline for the approval of Chainlink Spot ETFs remains uncertain, but growing institutional interest and regulatory advancements suggest progress in the near future.

Current impact of Chainlink Spot ETF applications on the crypto market

The anticipation surrounding Chainlink Spot ETF applications is clearly influencing market sentiment. Although Chainlink's price hasn’t yet surged dramatically, increased investor interest and speculation about potential ETF approvals have boosted overall optimism. 

Data from LINK and CoinGlass reveals that 

 have fallen to 138.8 million coins, the lowest since September 2024, indicating that investors are holding onto their tokens in self-custody wallets instead of selling. This trend reflects a growing belief that SEC approval for a Spot LINK ETF could substantially boost the token’s price. In addition, Chainlink’s role as one of the largest oracle networks and its innovative cross-chain interoperability protocol for asset tokenization further reinforce this positive outlook.

What will it mean if a Chainlink Spot ETF application is approved?

The approval of a Chainlink Spot ETF would have some significant implications for both the cryptocurrency market and traditional financial sectors, as follows.

If you’re looking to capture the market and trade LINK tokens, Bybit offers the 

A Chainlink Spot ETF would connect cryptocurrency with traditional finance by allowing investors to track LINK’s price without the complications of managing digital wallets. Specifically, it would keep the ETF's price in line with LINK’s market value, increase liquidity and attract institutional investors. Approval of a Chainlink Spot ETF could drive LINK's price higher, similar to trends seen with Bitcoin ETFs, and confirm Chainlink’s importance in the crypto ecosystem, encouraging its use across various industries. 

However, investors need to be cautious of potential short-term price swings and changes in regulations. Overall, this ETF would make crypto investing simpler for a broader audience, strengthening Chainlink’s position and supporting wider acceptance of blockchain technology in the financial world.

Intermediate

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Chainlink Spot ETF: A gateway to decentralized oracle investment

Huma Finance 2.0, a composable platform built on Solana, introduces real-world yield derived from global payment financing.

The S&P 500 fell 3.5% as renewed U.S.-China trade tensions erased gains from Trump’s tariff pause. Investors now await consumer sentiment data and bank earnings. Gold jumped 2.6% to a record $3,171 amid U.S.-China trade tensions, weaker dollar, and rising Fed rate cut bets. The Coindesk Indices, which tracks the broader crypto market, are down by 1.50%, with Bitcoin and Ether down 3.29% and 8.79% 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 ZRC, up 34.3%, followed by Zircuit's partnership with Diffuse Protocol to enhance the DeFi ecosystem with real-time data and secure cross-chain interoperability.

Zircuit (ZRC), founded in 2021, is a hybrid Layer 2 blockchain combining optimistic and ZK rollups, offering fast transactions, low costs, and strong security through AI-driven monitoring. EVM-compatible and designed for DeFi, it supports staking and asset transfers via its Liquidity Hub and secure native bridge. Zircuit has 

 with Diffuse Protocol to enhance its platform. Diffuse provides real-time verifiable data feeds, trustless cross-chain data streams, and restaking of assets with collateral abstraction, further strengthening Zircuit's AI-powered hybrid zkEVM and boosting its DeFi ecosystem.

Check out the latest prices, charts, and data of 

, a composable platform built on Solana, introduces real-world yield derived from global payment financing. The platform offers two options: Classic Mode for stable USDC yield and Maxi Mode for increased rewards through Huma Feathers. Through the $PST token, users can engage with DeFi protocols, swap tokens, and use them as collateral. Huma Finance has already processed over $3.8 billion in transactions, providing reliable yields sourced from payment-financing fees instead of market speculation. Huma 2.0 aims to bring a new liquidity model to DeFi, offering a more stable alternative to traditional financial cycles.

Yesterday, Bitcoin spot ETFs saw $149.5M in net outflows, with $44.6M from GBTC and $104.9M from other ETFs.

 has raised an additional $10M in its Series B round, bringing total funding to $35.5M with backing from a16z and other top investors. Users can boost their airdrop points by joining Towns, especially higher-priced ones, and by engaging through daily actions like tipping, inviting friends, and participating in different communities.

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Huma Finance 2.0 launches on Solana, introducing real-world yield and composable DeFi integration

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Altcoins

IOST is an ultra-fast and scalable blockchain that is said to be able to solve the blockchain trilemma. Find out more about how it works in this article.

 that’s striving to meet all the basic requirements of a decentralized economy. Learn more about it in this article, and discover if IOST is something you want to invest in.

IOST was created because traditional blockchains are struggling to cope with the issue of scalability.

For instance, Ethereum, one of the oldest and most established blockchain technologies, regularly gets congested due to high traffic. Once the transactions on the blockchain reach a certain threshold, it often becomes difficult for individual nodes to compile and save the bulk of data. Eventually this frenzy leads to congestion, data limitations, security risks and high transaction costs.

To solve these problems, the IOST platform features a new mechanism — proof of believability (PoB). In simple words, the PoB mechanism ensures that the network uses the reputations of nodes to reach a consensus. As a result, the system can process up to 100,000 

 (TPS). This is orders of magnitude faster than either 

 or Ethereum, which can process very few transactions per second.

The IOST ecosystem is composed of multiple components. To know how it works, you’ll need to understand two important concepts: EDS and proof of believability. You can read more about proof of believability in the following sections, but let's first talk about EDS, or Efficient Distributed Sharding.

To deliver speed and scalability for high-end transactions, IOST uses a system of fragmentation that divides the entire network into several sub-areas. In technical terms, Efficient Distributed Sharding is a process that divides the blockchain into smaller sub-chains while keeping the main blockchain immutable.

Using this system, a part of the node is grouped into a named fragment that performs tasks only for that specific fragment. This setup allows a large number of transactions to be processed and validated in parallel across the IOST network.

It also means that each sub-chain has the same throughput capabilities as the main blockchain. They also have the same characteristics in terms of security and consensus. The overall result is a higher rate of transactions per second (TPS) and enhanced scalability.

EDS is just one of the main blockchain technologies that IOST is using to find a solution for the blockchain trilemma.

The blockchain trilemma is a concept which suggests that a perfect blockchain has three main characteristics — decentralization, security and scalability — and when building a blockchain, a developer has to sacrifice one of the three characteristics to accommodate the other two.

For in-depth information about the blockchain trilemma, you can read this

At the moment, most blockchain developers think that decentralization and security are the two most important traits. Therefore, they're willing to sacrifice scalability, which is evident in the slow transaction speeds of such popular networks as Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Scalability, however, is critical for the development of blockchain technology because it helps network participants process and store vast amounts of data. As we move toward adapting the 

, there has to be a way to process the data without sacrificing decentralization and security.

While the concept of the blockchain trilemma lingers, it's becoming increasingly common for developers to try new methods that will address this trilemma once and for all. These methods include 

, a process that breaks blockchain transactions into smaller data sets that are easy to process. The IOST platform and the upcoming 

 are based on this concept. Likewise, other blockchain projects are implementing secondary layers such as 

 to address the trilemma. Interestingly, IOST and Polka Chain have partnered with each other to build a cross-chain transfer bridge to the Polkadot ecosystem.

How Does the IOST Blockchain Network Tackle the Blockchain Trilemma?

The heart of the IOST platform is its proof of believability mechanism, which helps the network deal with issues of decentralization, scalability and security — in other words, the blockchain trilemma.

The main advantage of proof of believability over other consensus mechanisms is its capacity to offer high transaction speed without compromising security. To achieve this, PoB uses elements such as micro state blocks and a sharding protocol. They help reduce storage needs, enhance processing power and keep transactions secure.

As previously explained, sharding is a process that splits the main blockchain infrastructure into sub-blockchains. This enables the network to reach speeds up to 100,000 TPS, which is suitable for enterprise use.

Storage needs are reduced using micro state blocks technology, or MSB. This technology ensures that each shard of the ledger maintains only the header information from the blocks that preceded it. The node validates just the final segment, which decreases the strain on data centers.

To deal with decentralization, the PoB mechanism splits validators into two groups: Believable and normal. In the first phase of decentralization, the believable validators process the transaction. Then the normal validators confirm the transaction.

Every node is given a chance to become "believable" by assigning it a "believability score." The score depends on the following factors:

Using this method of consensus, PoB can randomly select several validators per block. While nodes with higher believability scores would more likely be selected, the random process ensures that almost every node in the network has the opportunity to validate transactions and mine IOST tokens.

The barrier to entry for a PoB network is less than that of a traditional 

 (PoW) network. Since more nodes can participate in PoB, the system apparently offers a more transparent environment.

The IOST ecosystem incorporates a variety of features that help expand its on-chain applications, mainnet infrastructure and tools. If you're interested in the project, here’s a brief overview of some of its latest developments:

 cross-chain protocol serves as a bridge between the IOST network and Ethereum ecosystem. The bridge will enable IOST users and other crypto enthusiasts to enjoy the benefits of 

 that would otherwise be impossible, due to the low scalability and high gas fees of Ethereum.

IOSTSwap is among the series of public chains and Layer 2 projects that have substantially lowered the barriers for entry into the DeFi, NFT and metaverse ecosystems. Now, IOST and Ethereum users can easily swap tokens between the two public chains.

The native currency of the IOST network, and the platform’s medium of exchange, this 

 token also validates transactions, which powers the resources to run nodes. The IOST token also stands out from other cryptocurrencies because of its high transaction speed and security.

The IOST platform has developed a unique e-wallet with a Japanese web development company. The in-built wallet is automatically granted upon registration. It ensures that artists and users can participate in the 

 without learning the technical aspects of online crypto wallets.

The intuitive consensus mechanism covers the 

, making the initial transaction free of cost. However, you're still charged a 2.5 percent closing fee at the time of sale. To prevent fake collections, the system also issues unique IDs for users, collections and items.

There are nearly 21 billion IOST tokens in circulation, of which 40 percent are set aside for private sale.

IOST can be used for trading, earning revenue by 

 tokens, paying for products provided by merchants on the IOST platform and running 

. They can also be exchanged for third-party tokens.

 provides regular updates on the quarterly changes to its road map and existing blockchain technology. You can read about the upcoming changes on its 

. The report outlines the progress of the IOST ecosystem, as well as its plans and community initiatives.

Unlike a few other blockchain networks, each successive IOST road map outlines near-term goals and development. For example, the initial road map described the launch phase, followed by reports on the official release of the IOST network client, wallet and DApps.

In 2020, management focused on progressive changes to the nodes and how the rewards are distributed to these nodes. The following year, the focus diverted to introducing new products and upgrading the existing infrastructure. Recently, the updated road map outlined mainnet features, the launch of a cross-chain bridge and another upgrade to the existing infrastructure.

Recently, the price trajectory of IOST has followed a path consistent with the fortunes of other cryptocurrencies. During the height of the crypto frenzy in 2021, the price touched approximately $0.09 in two different phases.

From a technical perspective, any forward momentum in crypto markets is quickly transferred to IOST. In comparison to other cryptocurrencies, it usually reacts to such changes more favorably in price. The trend is particularly beneficial for short-term traders, who may gain substantial profit from a positive run.

IOST has strong fundamentals to back it all up. You can expect the price to double by the end of 2022. However, its true potential lies in the long term, where it could touch $0.50 within the next ten years — in other words, a 3,000 percent ROI for an investor who’s willing to stick with the ideology.

IOST is actively traded on more than 50 crypto exchanges. You can buy it from any of them, but only a handful offer perpetual contracts. Easy to trade, perpetual contracts offer maximum leverage and flexibility.

At this time, Bybit is one of the two leading exchanges in terms of the total volume of IOST perpetual contracts.

Depending on your country of residence, the system will offer relevant payment methods to buy USDT.

Once you receive the required USDT amount in the Bybit wallet, click on 

 button. The amount will be reflected in your wallet after the trade is completed.

IOST isn’t the only project seeking to solve the blockchain trilemma. These days, it's a hot topic, and everyone has an eye on the outcome. For instance, Ethereum is just about to roll out its second iteration to cope with blockchain scalability issues.

Despite all the competition, IOST has an edge over similar blockchain technology initiatives. Practical to invest in because it's one of the earliest projects in this niche, IOST has the fundamental elements working in its favor: A good road map, an experienced team and a very active community. Since 2018, the concept has matured toward sustainability.

According to China’s Center for Information and Industry Development, the basic blockchain technology behind IOST supersedes 37 high-profile competitors, including EOSIO and Ethereum. This is certainly a bold statement, which should be enough for most investors to take this project seriously. 

IOST: Tackling the Blockchain Trilemma with IOST's PoB

Grab Up to 5,000 USDT in Rewards

Grab Up to 5,000 USDT in Rewards