Ethereum surged 29% this week, breaking a 10-week downtrend and catching short sellers off guard with $400M liquidated. 

The S&P 500 extended its rally with a nine-day winning streak, its longest since 2004, as optimism over potential trade deals and upcoming Fed and earnings updates lifted sentiment. Gold rose to $3,245 on trade uncertainty and Fed rate cut hopes. CoinDesk Indices, which tracks the broader crypto market, fell 1.50% in the past 24 hours, while Bitcoin and Ether dropped 0.10% and 0.51%, respectively. Trade these markets and more with up to 500x leverage on Bybit MT5 using this 

Today's top performer is AI16Z, which surged 7.0% after Bonsai's smart media protocol integrated with Eliza to empower agent-driven social content creation.

elizaOS (AI16Z), launched in October 2024, formerly ai16z, is a Solana-based DApp that uses a DAO and an AI agent, "Marc AIndreessen," to manage community-driven investments in tech and crypto projects. 

, lets developers create agent-driven social media scripts and templates using ElizaOS plugins. The Bonsai Client, its first implementation, enables easy deployment of these smart media agents on platforms like Lens. Builders can explore these tools and compete for prizes in the Lens Spring Hackathon.

Check out the latest prices, charts, and data of 

Ethereum surged 29% this week, breaking a 10-week downtrend and catching short sellers off guard with $400M liquidated. Despite muted ETF flows and neutral derivatives sentiment, ETH’s dominance remains unshaken—boasting $64B in TVL, dwarfing Solana, BNB Chain, and Tron combined. With fresh momentum from the recent pectra upgrades and Trump distancing from rival altcoins, all eyes are now on a potential push toward $2,700. 

BTC spot ETFs saw $920.9M in net inflows this week, driven by $1.09B into non-GBTC funds despite $171.5M outflows from GBTC. Since inception, total net inflows stand at $41.1B.

 are now live and claimable as a small bonus for users farming the upcoming Aster (AST) airdrop. By depositing BNB to mint asBNB, users can start earning points toward both the main airdrop and future ecosystem rewards. Optional perp trading can boost points further, but simply holding asBNB is enough to qualify.

Beginner

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Ethereum outperforms with a 20% rally as fresh capital flows in and undervaluation signals flash

Our monthly report delves into insights from options volatility to inspire your next crypto move.

: April 2025 saw BTC's implied volatility surge above 75% due to tariff chaos, but it collapsed to 35% within a week, indicating a surprising short-term drop in volatility expectations despite ongoing macro uncertainty.

: BTC's return above $100K was met with muted enthusiasm in the derivatives market, suggesting that 

traders no longer view this level as a significant psychological barrier, and the rally isn’t likely to be sustained.

: ETH significantly outperformed BTC with a 23% rally, leading to increased demand for short-dated calls and a positive shift in the options market, highlighting renewed bullish sentiment.

: Historical trends suggest a potential summer lull in volatility in store for BTC, raising questions about whether this pattern will repeat in 2025 amidst ongoing macroeconomic challenges.

Bitcoin’s volatility plunges in late April

April 2025 witnessed significant volatility in the cryptocurrency market, particularly influenced by US trade policies. As President Trump announced steep reciprocal tariffs, the crypto landscape experienced sharp fluctuations. Bitcoin (BTC) initially demonstrated resilience, despite widespread sell-offs in equities and the US dollar, only to succumb to a decline from $88K to $75K by early April. This period was characterized by a dramatic rise in implied volatility that peaked above 75% as traders sought protection through short-dated puts. However, as the tariffs faced moderation, implied volatility plummeted to 35% by mid-April, marking the lowest level since early March.

Interestingly, while short-tenor volatility collapsed, 

the back end of BTC's term structure remained elevated, signaling that market participants expect heightened volatility in the mid-term

. Amidst this backdrop, realized volatility fell below the five-year seasonal average, paralleling similar trends in previous years and suggesting a 

. The historical pattern contrasts that BTC often experiences a rebound in volatility heading into May, raising questions about whether this trend will persist.

Subdued derivative response suggests Bitcoin rally might not endure

The market's reaction to BTC's resurgence above the $100K threshold was notably subdued compared to previous instances. While BTC rallied 20% following the initial tariff sell-off, the derivatives market displayed a muted response. The 25-delta put/call skew, a measure of market sentiment, indicated only a slight bias toward out-of-the-money calls, contrasting sharply with sentiment previously when BTC first breached the $100K mark in December 2024. This lack of exuberance suggests that traders no longer view $100K as a significant inflection point, raising concerns about the sustainability of the rally. 

Meanwhile, funding rates and implied volatility — though still bullish — didn’t reach the extremes observed in earlier months, indicating more cautious market sentiment. The relationship between BTC's spot price and implied volatility suggests that although traders are optimistic, they’re waiting for BTC to approach previous all-time highs before adjusting their volatility expectations.

Ethereum's option data points to further rally

In stark contrast to BTC, Ethereum (ETH) displayed remarkable resilience and outperformed major cryptocurrencies, gaining 23% overnight following favorable trade news. This rally catalyzed a surge in demand for short-dated calls, pushing front-end volatility expectations significantly higher. The response from the derivatives market was robust, inverting the term structure and indicating renewed bullish sentiment toward ETH, even as it’s trading well below its all-time high.

The ETH options market exhibited a shift from neutral to slightly negative skew, to a 10% bias favoring out-of-the-money calls, reflecting the market's confidence in ETH's potential to regain lost ground. Despite overall macroeconomic uncertainty, the demand for ETH options suggests that traders are optimistic about Ether’s future price movements.

In conclusion, April 2025 highlighted the complex interplay between macroeconomic factors and cryptocurrency market dynamics. While BTC faced challenges in eliciting strong responses from derivatives markets upon recrossing the $100K threshold, ETH's performance indicated a divergence in market sentiment. As traders navigate the evolving landscape, the potential for seasonal volatility patterns and the influence of macroeconomic developments will remain critical factors in shaping future market expectations.

Advanced

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Bybit X Block Scholes options volatility report (April 2025): Data suggests Bitcoin rally might not endure, but Ether sees further upside

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 mostly trading sideways at the end of April 2025, a US-UK trade deal sparked a crypto rally. BTC surged past $100K for the first time since February, but it’s ETH's performance that captured the derivatives market's attention. 

A 23% increase in ETH's spot price led to an inverted term structure and a spike in front-end volatility. The put/call skew for ETH shifted from a bearish bias to a nearly 10% skew toward OTM calls. Other sentiment indicators, such as perp funding rates and futures yield, also supported the rally. In contrast, while BTC's funding rates and skew have increased, its implied volatility remains low at 40%, over 30 points below ETH's 7-day implied volatility.

Please check out the report’s highlights.

ETH’s record performance since 2021 was propelled by positive term structure

ETH has significantly outperformed BTC and the top 10 cryptocurrencies, marking its largest single-day gain since May 2021. The options market has reflected this enthusiasm, with implied volatility for short tenors rising sharply and inverting ETH’s term structure, thus contrasting with BTC's muted, positively sloped structure. The 7-day tenor for ETH is now trading at a 33-point premium over that for BTC. 

While puts dominate BTC's open interest, ETH is seeing the opposite trend. On May 8, 2025, options volumes surged over $120M, more than double the typical monthly volume, with $60M more in calls than puts. ETH now boasts a positive futures curve and funding rates, as well as a strong skew toward OTM calls.

ETH sees exceptionally bullish put/call skew

ETH's substantial outperformance in the current crypto rally has led to bullish sentiment in its derivatives markets. Funding rates have surged, futures yields are strongly positive and the put/call skew has shifted significantly toward OTM calls, now close to 10%. This starkly contrasts with early April, when the skew was 20% toward OTM puts. Although ETH has underperformed (relative to BTC and other "ETH killers"), it has rebounded in this rally, with the ETH/BTC ratio rising after spending most of the year declining.

Open interest for Bitcoin options increased, with implied volatility remaining suppressed

The announcement of the new US administration's first trade deal, nearly 30 days into Trump's 90-day tariff pause, jolted crypto markets, pushing BTC back up above $100K. Surprisingly, implied volatility has remained suppressed, failing to invert BTC's term structure, with front-end volatility trading at around an 18-month low of 35-40%. On May 8, 2025, options volumes surged, with call volume reaching $189M, reversing last week's trend of higher put volumes. Meanwhile, open interest rose steadily to exceed $300M, the highest level this month, but remains significantly larger for puts than for calls despite the price increase.

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Bybit X Block Scholes crypto derivatives analytics report (May 9, 2025): Ether’s put/call skew turns remarkably more bullish than Bitcoin’s

This article explores how Sign works, its flagship products (such as TokenTable, SignPass and EthSign), its native token (SIGN) and how to trade SIGN on Bybit.

Sign is an omnichain attestation infrastructure that empowers users and developers to verify real-world claims on-chain. Built for a more transparent and decentralized future, it eliminates the need to “just trust” and enables everyone to verify with cryptographic proof.

This article explores how Sign works, its flagship products (such as TokenTable and EthSign), its native token (SIGN) and how to trade SIGN on Bybit.

 is an omnichain attestation protocol designed to make it easy for anyone to verify the authenticity of any claim — 

. Whether it’s a document, credential or user identity, Sign transforms traditional trust models into verifiable, cryptographic attestations. 

Sign’s mission is to replace outdated, opaque validation systems with transparent, 

 proof — enabling a future where “verify” replaces “trust.” Through tools like schema registries and digital signatures, Sign empowers users to bring accountability and integrity to digital interactions.

Sign is developed by the team behind EthSign, a 

-native e-signature and agreement platform. Its core team brings deep experience in 

 development and cross-chain integrations.

The project is backed by top-tier investors, including Sequoia Capital China (now known as HongShan Capital Group), Mirana Ventures, HashKey Capital and Hack VC.

This strategic funding positions Sign as a foundational layer in the web3 infrastructure stack.

Sign allows users to create attestations — cryptographically signed statements that prove the validity of claims, such as credentials, achievements or actions. These digital proofs can be verified by anyone at any time, making them tamperproof and transparent.

Sign’s key technical elements include a schema registry that ensures consistent data formatting, digital signatures proving authenticity, and on- and off-chain attestations with support for revocation or updates

This system acts like a programmable layer for web3, bringing a new level of trust to identity, credentials and data exchange.

TokenTable is Sign’s flagship token distribution platform. It helps projects unlock, distribute and manage tokens transparently and securely at scale.

It uses Sign’s attestation engine to verify token unlocks, 

 and vesting schedules, ensuring traceable, auditable token flows.

SignPass is a blockchain-based identity solution that brings real-world credentials on-chain. One notable implementation is the Sierra Leone PR Card, used for the world’s first government-approved on-chain permanent residency program.

SignPass offers encrypted on-chain records for easy 

 verification, physical ID issuance for daily identity use and streamlined digital application systems for cross-border access.

It showcases the way blockchain can modernize public sector services worldwide.

EthSign is a decentralized contract signing platform that lets users create, sign and store legally binding agreements directly on-chain. It removes intermediaries and ensures documents are immutable and accessible.

EthSign reinforces Sign’s mission by bringing traditional documentation into the realm of verifiable web3 attestations.

The SIGN token is the native utility token powering the Sign ecosystem. It’s used for:

The total supply is capped at 10 billion SIGN, with 1.2 billion tokens in circulation. While the fully diluted valuation (FDV) sits above $746 million as of May 7, the circulating market cap is approximately $89.6 million. SIGN continues to gain traction across exchanges and developer networks.

SIGN is available for trading on Bybit via Spot trading and as a USDT Perpetual contract. Bybit offers up to 75x leverage for the SIGNUSDT Perpetual contract and supports secure, high-liquidity spot trading.

Start exploring the future of attestations with SIGN on Bybit today.

Intermediate

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Sign (SIGN): Web3 protocol for trustless attestation

Blockchain

Explainers

Altcoins

Celestia (TIA) is a modular blockchain platform built with Cosmos SDK that facilitates customized blockchain building.

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The end of October marked perhaps one of the most pivotal events in the blockchain industry — the arrival of the modular blockchain concept. Celestia, the first truly modular blockchain platform, was launched on Oct 31, 2023, having generated massive publicity thanks to its genesis 

Celestia blockchain allows developers to create their own highly customizable decentralized networks within the broader platform by decoupling the execution and 

 layers. Besides the innovative modularity concept, Celestia gained significant buzz online by distributing its native coin, TIA, to 580,000 users at the time of its mainnet launch.

Read on to find out more about Celestia and how its modular blockchain technology can potentially revolutionize the entire blockchain landscape.

 (TIA) is a blockchain platform built with 

 SDK. It facilitates customized blockchain building, thanks to its modular design that keeps the network’s execution layer separate from its core consensus and data availability layers.

 This allows developers to easily create or port in customized networks and apps that use their own transaction execution mechanisms. Platforms with diverse execution engines can easily be integrated into Celestia in order to utilize its consensus mechanism and security features, while retaining their engines’ properties.

The Celestia project was initially founded in 2019 under the name LazyLedger. Perhaps recognizing the less-than-perfect initial brand name — hardly anyone would be excited about a "lazy" platform — the project rebranded to Celestia in June 2021. With this rebranding, Celestia aims to become a universal consensus network that’s as expansive and boundless as its name.

Celestia was developed by Celestia Labs, and is also supported by the Celestia Foundation.

Blockchain developers can program their solutions and apps using their preferred execution engines. They can then port them to Celestia to access the basic consensus mechanism and data availability checking — processes that are critical to blockchains and decentralized apps (

). This modularity lets developers use programming languages and execution environments of their choice.

On the underlying consensus layer, Celestia uses the proof of stake (

) block validation method for transaction ordering. Initially, the block validation process will be carried out by 100 nodes. The platform also supports staking delegation from one node to another. Meanwhile, the interconnected data availability layer distributes and stores valid data across the network. The data availability layer contains two main features: data availability sampling (DAS) and Namespaced Merkle Trees (NMTs), which will be discussed in the next section.

Two types of nodes work to secure the Celestia blockchain: data availability nodes, and consensus or validator nodes. The data availability nodes are further split into three types: light node, full node and bridge node. Light nodes help conduct data availability sampling on the data availability layer, while full nodes store all of the data and submit fraud proofs to the light nodes. Bridge nodes act to connect Celestia's data availability layer and consensus layer.

Celestia’s modular design also makes it a great environment in which to utilize 

. The pluggable modularity feature of the Celestia platform makes it possible to launch optimistic, zero-knowledge (ZK) and sovereign rollup solutions. Besides rollups, developers can also choose to build custom chains using smart contracts on Celestia.

The data availability layer helps enhance the blockchain's security by utilizing light nodes to check that transactional data is public and valid. As such, the concept is distinct from data storage, which supports the containment and retrieval of historical transaction data.

Celestia’s modular data availability network uses a unique data availability sampling (DAS) technology to ensure the network’s data integrity. Thanks to DAS, Celestia's light nodes need only a small subset of the overall transaction data to verify the overall validity of 

 posted to the network. This means that anyone can easily run a light node on Celestia as long as they have a working internet connection, because very little computational power is needed for data verification. This promotes effective scaling of the layer, because as the number of light nodes increases, more data can be downloaded for verification.

Another unique feature of Celestia’s data availability layer is Namespaced Merkle Trees (NMTs). 

 can be thought of as indexes or tables of content for blockchain data that are used to ensure data validity. Unlike standard Merkle trees, Celestia’s NMTs reserve a separate namespace (partition) for each individual app on the platform. Thanks to the NMT model, each app on Celestia needs to download only its own data, and can ignore the data of other apps. This further improves the efficiency of data validity checking on Celestia.

Celestia’s modular design allows rollup protocols to operate independently from the shared consensus and data availability layers, while allowing complete autonomy at the execution level. Such autonomously operating rollups are called “sovereign.” This is different from a standard blockchain, for example 

 (ETH), whose rollups are dependent on the smart contracts of the mainnet, which then acts as a consensus and data availability layer for the rollups.

On Celestia, sovereign rollups can post their blocks directly on the chain as raw data, instead of relying on smart contracts. Instead of blocks being computed on the Celestia consensus and data availability layers, sovereign rollups execute their own computation. In essence, each Celestia sovereign rollup is similar to a Layer 1 independent network.

While Celestia isn’t exclusively an environment for rollups, its architecture is geared primarily toward supporting rollup platforms, and it’s expected that rollups of various kinds will be the main network types on Celestia.

Modular Blockchains vs. Monolithic Blockchains

Many of Celestia’s advantages stem from its innovative modular design. A typical blockchain — such as Ethereum, 

 (SOL) — has a monolithic, rather than modular, structure. In a monolithic blockchain, all of the key layers (execution, consensus and data availability) are tightly integrated and highly dependent on each other. In other words, everything is stacked under the same hood.

Modular blockchains separate the execution layer from the other two lower layers. As a result, such chains offer several features that can be difficult — and sometimes downright impossible — to implement on traditional, monolithic platforms. 

The key benefits of modular blockchains such as Celestia include the following.

. Thanks to the autonomous execution layer, a wide variety of networks or DApps with their own distinct execution engines can be easily ported into and out of a modular platform.

Running network nodes on modular chains requires lighter hardware specifications than monolithic chain nodes' requirements.

Sovereign rollups allow for more flexibility in DApp creation because they function like Layer 1 blockchains on which developers can create and run their own consensus and execution layers.

Since apps such as rollups operate independently of each other on the execution layer, scaling an individual DApp becomes easy. Other DApps on the network won’t be negatively affected when a particular app is rapidly scaled up.

The shared security provided by a modular chain doesn’t require bootstrapping a new set of validator nodes every time a protocol such as a rollup is added to the chain. The same set of validators ensures consensus and security for all of the networks, apps and protocols linked to the modular platform.

TIA is Celestia’s native cryptocurrency. The token can be used by rollup developers to pay for access to the underlying data availability layer. It can also be used for paying gas fees on the network. Other vital functions of the TIA token include staking and governance. Notably, unlike some blockchains, staking is separate from governance in Celestia. In order to participate in governance, you simply have to be a TIA holder. You can stake TIA to be a validator or delegator and earn rewards for securing the network.

TIA’s initially allocated total supply is 1 billion, of which around 141 million are currently in circulation. TIA isn’t a supply-capped token. It has an annual inflation rate that starts at 8% in the first year, but decreases by 10% each succeeding year until it reaches 1.5%.

The initial supply of 1 billion has been distributed as follows:

As of Nov 14, 2023, the TIA token is trading at $5.32, which is 8.76% lower than its all-time high of $5.90 achieved on Nov 13, 2023, and over 150% higher than its all-time low of $2.08 on Oct 31, 2023 – the day of the crypto’s launch.

TIA’s long-term price outlook is largely bullish.DigitalCoinPrice 

 the token will trade at $19.18 by 2025 and $56.38 by 2030. CoinCodex is a bit more reserved in its estimates, but still 

 to climb as high as $11.59 by 2025 and $13.01 by 2030.

Despite making its first steps in the crypto market, TIA is already shaping up as a potentially good investment asset. The key factors in favor of the coin are as follows:

Celestia’s innovative modular design may lead to a strong inflow of new protocols, primarily rollups, to the platform. To make rollup developers' work easier, Celestia even offers a modular rollup development framework called 

The autonomous execution layer could also attract other DApps and networks, in addition to rollups. These platforms will certainly appreciate the benefit of retaining their own execution engine properties while being able to utilize Celestia’s consensus and security mechanisms.

. In order to execute your trade, you’ll first need to deposit USDT into your Spot account or Unified Trading Account. The Bybit 

 is an all-in-one flexible account that allows Bybit users to consolidate all of their Bybit Spot and derivative assets.

A USDT Perpetual contract on Bybit allows traders to open 

, with no expiration dates. The default margin mode is Cross Margin with 10x leverage, but you can change your margin mode and leverage multiplier at any time — even during an open position — as long as you have enough balance. The position mode is automatically set to one-way, which only allows for either a short or long position, but you can also opt for a hedge mode, whereby you can hold both positions for one contract.

Traditional monolithic designs have long been the default model for blockchain architectures. With the arrival of Celestia, we can now expect a tectonic shift in the way blockchains and rollups are structured and operate. Launched just two weeks ago, Celestia is the first platform that offers blockchain developers complete flexibility on the execution layer.

Building and deploying rollups has just become much easier and more efficient — and a new revolution in blockchain technology is underway.

Celestia (TIA): Modular Flexibility for a Collaborative Blockchain Ecosystem

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