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.

December's end-of-year options expiration brought an unexpected drop as realized volatility fell to the lowest levels of the month. Perpetual swap open interest remained stable, indicating these markets weren't heavily used for hedging against expired options, likely contributing to the muted volatility. 

While most expired open interest in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) hasn't been reinvested, the balance of calls and puts remains consistent. Notably, ETH options are pricing in higher implied volatility as compared to BTC, particularly for shorter expirations, leading to a flat term structure for ETH, while BTC is offering cheaper options exposure.

In the perpetual markets, low volatility and minimal spot movements have led funding rates for nearly all tokens to mirror broader market sentiment throughout the holiday season. On the options side, BTC's term structure is noticeably lower and steeper than ETH's, with realized volatility now dipping below implied volatility levels, highlighting an intriguing shift in market dynamics.

Please check out the report’s highlights.

Open Interest Solid Amid Year-End Options Expiration

Although open interest for both BTC and ETH perpetual swaps hasn’t returned to early December 2024 highs, it remained robust throughout the significant end-of-year options expiration event. This suggests that these markets weren’t heavily utilized to 

 of the expiring options contracts, likely contributing to the lack of volatility observed during this period. Instead, trading volumes have dipped noticeably during the winter holiday season, coinciding with a collapse in realized volatility back to December 2024’s lowest levels.

BTC Option Curve Remains Steep During Call-Put Parity

The expiration of December's end-of-year options didn’t trigger the anticipated surge in volatility; instead, realized volatility has plummeted to the lower end of its recent range. The implied volatility term structure remains steep compared to both its recent behavior and ETH's, with longer-dated implied volatility around 57%, and 1-week at-the-money options trading about five points lower. Much of the expired open interest hasn’t yet been rolled into new positions, maintaining a neutral balance between puts and calls. Consequently, BTC's options market positioning is relatively neutral, lacking the leverage it had at the start of December 2024.

Huge ETH Option Expiring Doesn’t Cause Volatility

A late December spike in realized volatility didn’t carry into the new year, with ETH’s spot price currently exhibiting volatility below that of short-tenor implied volatility. Interestingly, the implied volatility term structure has undergone a steepening and re-flattening over the past week, contrasting with BTC’s slightly steeper profile. This suggests that ETH’s options market is anticipating higher short-term volatility in spot price movements. 

Despite the significant expiration of options open interest at the end of December 2024, which didn’t lead to a rollover into later expirations, call options continue to dominate the market and have increased at the start of 2025.

Advanced

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Bybit X Block Scholes Crypto Derivatives Analytics Report (Jan 2, 2025): BTC Options Continue to See Call-Put Parity, With Lower Short-Term Volatility Expected

Dive into FLock, a decentralized platform that revolutionizes the way AI models are developed, trained and deployed.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to transform countless industries, but its development often raises questions about privacy, control and inclusivity. 

 is a unique decentralized platform that democratizes AI training, fine-tuning and inferencing. With its blockchain-powered infrastructure, FLock ensures transparency, security and community-driven decision-making, paving the way for AI models that align with established societal values. 

In this article, we’ll explore how FLock decentralizes AI training, its key features and its potential impact on developers, communities and users.

 platform that revolutionizes the way AI models are developed, trained and deployed. By leveraging blockchain technology and a novel approach called 

, FLock addresses critical issues in AI development, such as centralized control, lack of transparency and privacy concerns.

At its core, FLock’s mission is to democratize AI by enabling communities to participate directly in the creation and refinement of AI models. Through federated learning, FLock trains AI models across multiple decentralized devices or servers. This method ensures that data remains local, eliminating the need for raw data exchange while still enabling robust model training. By decentralizing the training process, FLock not only protects individual privacy, but also fosters a more inclusive ecosystem in which diverse contributors can collaborate.

What sets FLock apart is its integration of 

. This ensures that all contributions — whether data, compute power or feedback — are transparently recorded and fairly rewarded. Blockchain tech’s immutable ledger enhances trust among participants and safeguards the process against manipulation. Additionally, the platform’s on-chain incentive mechanisms encourage participation from a wide range of contributors, ensuring that rewards are distributed equitably.

Ultimately, FLock empowers communities to develop bespoke AI models tailored to their specific needs. By decentralizing the process and prioritizing transparency and collaboration, FLock breaks the monopoly of large corporations, creating an AI ecosystem that aligns with public ethics and societal values.

, an Oxford alumnus with a robust background in AI and blockchain technology. Sun, who serves as FLock's CEO, has an impressive career trajectory, having worked as the Director of AI for the Royal Bank of Canada and as an AI Research Fellow at Imperial College London. His vision for FLock stems from a deep understanding of both the technical and ethical challenges of AI development.

The founding team also includes other Oxford alumni, boasting over a decade of combined experience in AI research and the cryptocurrency industry. This team brings a collective blend of academic excellence and practical expertise that positions FLock to lead the decentralized AI movement.

FLock has successfully raised $11 million in funding across two rounds, reflecting strong investor confidence in its vision. In May 2024, FLock secured a $6 million seed round co-led by Lightspeed Faction and Tagus Capital, with additional backing from Digital Currency Group (DCG), Volt Capital, OKX Ventures and Inception Capital.

Later, in December 2024, FLock announced a $3 million successful funding round led by DCG and joined by prominent names like Animoca Brands, Fenbushi Capital, GnosisVC and GSR. These investments are being channelled into enhancing the platform’s testnet and federated learning client, accelerating FLock’s mission of enabling secure, collaborative AI development.

With this funding and over 1,500 nodes contributing from platforms like Numerai and Kaggle, FLock is rapidly scaling its impact on decentralized AI training.

FLock AI revolutionizes AI development through its decentralized training framework. This approach allows participants to contribute to AI model training without ever sharing their personal data. Instead, models are trained locally across devices using federated learning, which ensures that data remains with its owners while still enhancing the accuracy of the model overall. 

FLock’s reward system is designed to incentivize active participation. Contributors who provide data, computational power and/or feedback are compensated with FLOCK tokens, ensuring a fair distribution of rewards. 

FLock empowers its community through a robust governance framework. Decisions regarding AI model development, deployment and ethical considerations are driven by the community, ensuring alignment with established societal values. Through blockchain-based voting mechanisms, contributors can influence the direction of AI projects, fostering transparency and public accountability. 

FLock’s modular architecture allows contributors to participate in specific aspects of AI model development. Whether providing raw data or computational power or even refining algorithms, the platform enables a collaborative and scalable development process. 

At the core of FLock’s philosophy is its commitment to privacy and security. By leveraging blockchain technology, the platform ensures that no single entity controls the AI development process. Data remains local and protected by cryptographic measures, while the immutability of blockchain guarantees transparency in every transaction and model update. 

 begins with a blockchain and an AI layer.

The blockchain layer underpins FLock’s incentivization and security mechanisms.

The AI layer facilitates model training, refinement and deployment, leveraging both centralized and federated approaches.

Let’s have a look at the supply and demand for the FLOCK token.

FLock adopts a 1:2 ratio model between team/investors (33.3%) and community (66.7%), prioritizing community-driven growth and ecosystem expansion. The majority of tokens are allocated to incentivize user participation and long-term ecosystem success.

FLock aims to improve the future of AI development by decentralizing the training process and ensuring transparency, privacy and inclusivity. By leveraging blockchain and federated learning, FLock empowers communities to contribute to AI creation without compromising on privacy. Its innovative reward system and community-driven governance foster a fair and collaborative ecosystem. 

With significant backing and a growing network of contributors, FLock is positioning itself as a leader in decentralized AI, offering a more ethical and secure alternative to traditional AI development models. As it continues to scale, FLock is set to transform the way AI models are built and deployed.

 — and earn a share of a 10 million FLOCK prize pool. For more details, visit 

Intermediate

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FLock AI: Decentralized AI Training

In this tutorial, we’ll explore how you can complete a series of tasks in Network3 for Bybit Web3 Airdrop Arcade.

Task 1: Register for a Network3 Account and Connect Your Bybit Wallet 

: Navigate to the campaign page and click on the 

task. Click on the task, and Galxe will ask to redirect you to the Network3 register page.

: Register for a Network3 account using your email address. You may indicate a 

Task 2: Download the Network3 App and Run a Node for One Hour

 and choose your operating system to download the Network3 app.

 or powerbutton, depending upon which operating system you’re using. For ease of reference, we’ve used macOS and iOS as examples below.

: Keep running the node until the timer reaches 

Beginner

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How to Complete Network3 Tasks for Bybit Web3 Airdrop Arcade

Bybit launched the Bybit Merch Creative Challenge for university students worldwide, offering a $50,000 USDT prize pool.

The S&P 500 dropped 0.22% on Thursday, its fifth straight decline, with investors eyeing Friday’s economic updates. Coindesk Indices, an index measuring broader cryptocurrency market performance was up by 2.03%, with Bitcoin and Ether rising by 2.79% and 2.70%, respectively in the past 24 hours.

Today's top performer is XRP, which surged 1.9% following a rise in price driven by increased open interest and positive market sentiment.

Ripple (XRP), launched in August 2012, is a blockchain technology company focused on improving international payments with its cryptocurrency, XRP. XRP price surged due to increased open interest, a major XRP transfer, and market sentiment linked to Trump's inauguration. Bullish momentum is supported by high short liquidations, with key resistance levels to watch for further price movement.

Check Out the Latest Prices, Charts, and Data of 

 for university students worldwide, offering a $50,000 USDT prize pool. Participants can design exclusive Bybit merchandise, with submissions open until Jan. 15, 2025. Winners will be announced on Feb. 1, 2025, across four prize categories.

Yesterday, Bitcoin Spot ETFs recorded a total inflow of $84.8M, driven by $107.9M from non-GBTC funds, partially offset by a $23.1M outflow from GBTC.

, offering an airdrop for participants who complete tasks like swapping and bridging using the Mango wallet. Points earned through tasks determine airdrop rewards. Join via the Mango wallet and follow steps on the testnet dashboard.

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Bybit Launches $50,000 Merch Design Challenge for University Students Worldwide

Bybit Learn

Altcoins

Stacks is a popular cryptocurrency project that aims to enhance the Bitcoin blockchain by facilitating DApps and smart contracts on the Bitcoin platform.

There are a large number of cryptocurrency platforms on the market, some of which are far more valuable and important to the industry than others. Among the most important platforms for this industry is 

 network that's designed specifically to provide Bitcoin with 

 and decentralized applications, also known as 

While Bitcoin and Stacks are essentially two completely separate 

, they work together. If you're thinking about investing in the STX token and want to know more about this Bitcoin network, the following guide offers an extensive overview of what Stacks is and the benefits it provides.

The Stacks protocol is a popular cryptocurrency project that aims to enhance the Bitcoin blockchain by facilitating DApps and smart contracts on the Bitcoin platform. The DApps on the Stacks network are highly modular.

This cryptocurrency project is centered on improving Bitcoin and making sure that the Bitcoin blockchain is as widely adopted as possible. Stacks is known to be a Bitcoin layer that shares some components with other 

 (L1 and L2) blockchains. To most users and developers, Stacks can be called a Bitcoin L2 blockchain, as it’s anchored directly to Bitcoin. Because of how this project is structured, its smart contracts don't alter any features of Bitcoin.

 means that developers can build on top of any app created on the Stacks network. Since Bitcoin is the base layer of Stacks, all aspects of the Stacks ecosystem are secured directly by the 

 before being rebranded in 2020, was co-founded by 

 in 2013. The platform was developed as a response to the increased centralization of the internet. Its native token, STX, is used to process transactions and execute smart contracts.

Stacks focuses on the interactions that occur between two separate parties, which include stackers and miners. These interactions are fully regulated by a proof of transfer (PoX) consensus mechanism. However, “miners” on the Stacks platform don't actually mine anything. Instead, they exchange mined BTC tokens taken from the Bitcoin network for the possibility of earning STX tokens. Because this type of mining is unique, any previous experience you've had with 

 likely won't prepare you for being a miner on this platform.

Every block that's “mined” via the Stacks blockchain stores transactional 

, as well as user identity information. This data is used to interact with every DApp that's housed within the Stacks ecosystem. Since Stacks is connected directly to Bitcoin, alterations that are made to wallet balances or IDs are verified through the Bitcoin network. The same is true of smart contracts.

Any data that isn't directly stored on Stacks is stored with 

, a separate solution that uses cloud storage and cold storage to provide users with numerous options. As for the Stacks coin — STX — it’s the main cryptocurrency token on which Stacks is based.

 is a consensus mechanism that defines what miners must do to develop blocks through the Stacks blockchain. Mining is necessary to verify transactions, and provides miners with cryptocurrency rewards. This mechanism is commonly used on Bitcoin by requiring miners to solve a unique puzzle with the processing power that their computer has, adding more blocks to the chain.

Any blockchain consensus algorithm requires financial or 

 to guarantee an extremely secure blockchain. Decentralized consensus ensures that malicious actors don't have the ownership stake or computing power to breach the network through an 

 consensus mechanism, in which miners destroy 

PoX secures blockchains by using a PoW cryptocurrency from an entirely different blockchain. Instead of burning the currency, miners transfer any cryptocurrency that they commit to other individuals within the network. 

There are several reasons why Stacks selected Bitcoin as the best network to effectively power the consensus. Since Bitcoin is considered to be the most secure cryptocurrency platform in existence, partnering with it doesn't come with much risk.

Bitcoin focuses primarily on stability and simplicity, which is why it's difficult for hackers to breach the network. BTC has also proven to be the most popular cryptocurrency, and is currently recognized by large corporations and governments alike.

 is a smart contract language that allows smart contracts to be used on the Bitcoin network. Its purpose is to prevent many of the exploits and bugs that can exist with these contracts. To understand the benefits that Clarity provides, it’s first necessary to understand how smart contracts interact with Bitcoin. There are three separate transactions that occur with a Bitcoin-Stacks smart contract: a single Bitcoin transaction and two Stacks transactions.

The receiver address, total amount of Bitcoin and other parameters are sent in the initial Stacks transaction. Once this occurs, a Bitcoin transaction is made, which determines the state of Stacks through the Bitcoin network. Once this transaction has been confirmed, an additional Stacks transaction occurs, verifying the previous Bitcoin transaction. The smart contract’s parameters are then executed.

It's possible to create and implement ample amounts of software logic when creating a Stacks smart contract. Some of the functions that Clarity can accommodate include:

Smart contract language included with this platform is fully optimized for security and predictability. The main difference between Clarity and some other smart-contract languages used on blockchain networks is that Clarity’s language is 

, and can be interpreted and displayed on the blockchain without any changes.

Because the language is shown as is, the smart contract code can always be read by humans, which makes it easy to audit the information. The “decidable” nature of this language indicates that the code can be accurately determined when it's executed. In fact, you're also able to identify what function the code has, as well as its duration.

Stacks comes with a wide range of distinct features you might want to know about before investing in the platform. These features include everything from mining functionality to the 

Miners can spend Bitcoin when electing leaders. This process involves sending different transactions to the Bitcoin blockchain, after which a 

 (VRF) chooses the leader for each round. This individual then writes the block on Stacks. For rewards, STX miners are provided with STX tokens, as well as Clarity contract execution fees and transaction fees for every block they mine.

As noted, developers can create DApps with the Stacks blockchain. These include everything from games and exchanges to non-fungible tokens. All DApps are made with Bitcoin technology. Once developed, they provide users with full control over their own digital assets, data and identities. Furthermore, all applications created via Stacks are decentralized. Stacks offers three separate functions for developing apps:

These functions can be used together in order to develop powerful and feature-rich experiences more useful than with traditional apps. Even though Stacks provides developers with ample resources for creating DApps, the majority of resources to which developers have access are designed to accommodate developers who have experience with 

Any information that's not directly stored on Stacks is placed in the Gaia storage system. This particular solution uses 

 and other cloud storage providers to deliver premium storage options. Users also have the opportunity to use cold storage (as opposed to cloud storage) if they have enough computing power.

 is designed to provide STX holders with rewards for taking part in the PoX consensus. Individuals who participate in this process are referred to as “stackers.” Whenever a block is mined, the blockchain sends BTC that has been committed by miners over to stackers. This Bitcoin is considered a reward for the value that stackers add to the Stacks network. These rewards are distributed once every seven days.

At the moment, STX holders are required to have a minimum amount of holdings (currently, 

) if they want to participate on the blockchain as stackers. Crypto investors who don't have enough STX can take part in stacking by using a third-party delegation service, which lets holders pool their holdings together (before taking part in stacking) as a form of joint participation. Some of these platforms only require a 0.1 STX minimum for you to start stacking.

 is the NFT marketplace housed on the Stacks blockchain. It supports all 

 projects. This is the very first NFT marketplace available through Stacks. With Gamma, you can easily explore, mint, purchase and sell digital collectibles.

Stacks has many use cases, the primary of which include bringing DApps to Bitcoin and providing the Bitcoin network with smart contracts. As described previously, Stacks uses a PoX consensus while connecting natively with Bitcoin. The implementation of the Stacks/Bitcoin interface provides developers with enhanced privacy and security for creating applications and building games. This eliminates reliance on central authorities, such as banks and other financial institutions, for financial transactions and products.

As mentioned, the two main participants on this platform are STX miners and holders. While miners are given rewards in the form of transaction and Clarity contract execution fees and STX tokens, holders are rewarded with Bitcoin. Holders can participate in the consensus by committing a certain amount of STX for a specific cycle.

All activities that occur on the Stacks blockchain are powered by the Stacks token. Fuel is used to facilitate transactions and interaction with smart contracts. 

STX was launched on Oct 26, 2019 at $0.37. It immediately plummeted to a low of $0.08 by mid-December. Multiple fluctuations followed, although STX’s price generally ranged between $0.08 and $0.27 through 2020. A breakthrough occurred in Feb 2021 during the crypto bull run as STX’s price steadily increased, from $0.42 on Feb 1, 2021 to a high of $2.75 on Apr 6, 2021. Although the price of STX declined following this to $0.59, it increased once again, to its all-time high of $3.39 on Dec 1, 2021. 

STX’s price then fluctuated before crashing in May 2022, which corresponds with the Terra/LUNA crash that occurred during the same period. This caused STX’s price to tank, falling back to its previous low of $0.20 by Dec 2022. 

On Jan 1, 2023, STX’s price started to pick up, steadily increasing from $0.21 to $1.19 in three months’ time. This increase could be attributed to a few of the following factors:

Although STX price decreased once again, from Mar 24, 2023 to Jun 15, 2023, it increased in late June and early July. This could be attributed to the positive outlook in the market as 

 from $24,904 on Jun 15, 2023 to $31,243 on Jul 4, 2023. 

The STX token is currently trading at around $0.67 (as of Jul 6, 2023). Its current market cap is approximately $932 million, with a circulating supply of almost 1.4 billion tokens. STX has a total and maximum supply of 1.818 billion tokens.

STX is available for purchase on various crypto exchanges, including Bybit. If you're looking to purchase or trade the STX token, first 

 (or sign in to your existing one). Fund your account with cryptocurrency and proceed to the 

STX delivers a high amount of value to the Bitcoin network by enabling smart contracts and the development of DApps. Using the Stacks blockchain means gaining access to the features of two separate blockchains for every activity you perform on the Stacks platform. Stacks also allows members to earn BTC via their rewards program, which bypasses the need to convert rewards to Bitcoin. 

STX has proven to be so useful that it's a good investment for any crypto holder. Nevertheless, as always, it’s advisable you 

 before investing in any cryptocurrencies.

Stacks offers plenty of unique features that aren't available with other crypto projects. By providing the Bitcoin network with the ability to support smart contracts, Bitcoin's adoption in the crypto industry should expand even further in the months and years to come. Because of the many functions Stacks currently supports, it looks poised to continue garnering success.

Stacks (STX): A Bitcoin Layer for Smart Contracts

Grab Up to 5,000 USDT in Rewards

Grab Up to 5,000 USDT in Rewards