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

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

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

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

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

Check out the latest prices, charts, and data of 

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

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

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

Beginner

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Ethereum R1 offers a decentralized rollup solution for Ethereum

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

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

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

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

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

 is a liquid staking protocol that focuses on transforming 

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

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

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

Lombard Finance addresses this shortcoming by building on top of 

, a protocol that supports BTC staking without needing 

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

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

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

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

Founders and investors of Lombard Finance

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It’s easy to participate in the Lombard ecosystem through 

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

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

Ready to unlock your Bitcoin's potential? 

Intermediate

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Lombard Finance: Polychain-backed Bitcoin liquid staking protocol

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

Altcoin season might have come with reviveding speculation 

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

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

Bitcoin's bullish sentiment substantially improves

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

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

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

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

Advanced

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

, that translates to meaningful savings over time.

Finally, it unlocks strategy flexibility. Whether you're 

 funding rates between Spot and Perpetual, doing 

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

How to get started with Bybit Spread Trading 

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

 for more information on how to create a Bybit account.

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

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

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

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

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

Congratulations — you’ve successfully placed an order!

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

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

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

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

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

button. For additional insights, click on 

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

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

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

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

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

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Bybit Spread Trading: Smart strategies for market swings

Bybit Learn

Blockchain

Quai Network is a pre-mainnet Layer 1 blockchain. The sharding, splitting of blockchain into subchains, helps the network spread its load among sub-chains.

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Quai Network is an upcoming crypto blockchain that uses an innovative 

 (PoW) 2.0 mechanism to achieve limitless scalability without sacrificing security and decentralization. Read on as we cover everything you need to know about Quai Network. 

Quai Network uses an innovative blockchain design that relies on sharding and the PoW 2.0 consensus mechanism to reduce network congestion and improve transaction speeds across the network.

, scalability issues typically result in high fees and centralization. To solve the problem, Quai Network uses sharding by offering 13 blockchains running in unison. Each blockchain is either a Prime, Region or Zone chain that produces blocks asynchronously, ultimately speeding up block production.

Instead of sacrificing speed for decentralization, Quai Network deploys the PoW 2.0 consensus mechanism and 

 to keep the network highly decentralized and open-source.

Envisioned in 2019, the blockchain project is the brainchild of five entrepreneurs who founded 

: Alan Orwick, Jonathan Downing, Karl Kreder, Yanni Georghiades and Sriram Vishwanath. Quai Network started as a distributed systems research project at the University of Texas in Austin.

After the publication of the whitepaper by its founders, work began on implementing the infrastructure in 2021. In early 2022, testing commenced on the network, which ultimately led to two extremely successful rounds of capital induction from leading venture capital firms Polychain Capital and Alumni Ventures. 

Armed with the needed resources and a stable blockchain, the parent company of Quai Network, Dominant Strategies, is certainly well-equipped to handle the additional workload. As of 2023, it has almost 50 employees working on the Quai Network project, enabling fast, accessible and low-cost decentralized finance (

The Quai Network aims to solve the dreaded 

 that has dented the progress of popular blockchains such as 

The blockchain trilemma suggests that blockchains must sacrifice one of the three properties: scalability, security or decentralization. In theory, a blockchain cannot sustain all these three properties together. For instance, typical blockchains can overcome scalability issues by increasing block size allowing a higher transaction rate. However, it will cause a reduction in the number of nodes in a network, which will reduce decentralization. Similar arguments can be made against security and one of the other properties.

Quai Network is built to solve the problem using hierarchical merged mining as a solution to scaling blockchains without sacrificing decentralization and security.

Quai Network uses a pyramid-shaped hierarchical structure. 

At the top of this pyramid is the Prime chain, which uses a memory-intensive hashing algorithm shared across the network.

Every Quai miner is required to mine the Prime chain. It has a high mining difficulty and a slow throughput of one block every 15 minutes.

The slow throughput is ideal when the entire network is addressed because it's where all the miners mine. On the contrary, the high difficulty and slow throughput of Prime Chain are not ideal for simple transactions and 

Below the Prime Chain are three Region chains — Cyprus, Paxos and Hydra. These Region chains produce one block every 5 minutes. Accordingly, they have higher throughput and lower difficulty compared to the Prime chain. 

Miners can use these subordinate chains to mine, but it is important to note that a miner can only mine a single Region chain along with the Prime chain at any given point in time. This means that whenever miners are set up on the network, they can only select one Region chain that they wish to use.

Similarly, there are three Zone chains within every Region chain. Just like Region chains, a miner must select only one Zone chain to mine. At any given time, users of Quai Network can simultaneously mine three chains: the Prime chain, Region chain and Zone chain.

Each Zone Chain outputs a block every 10 seconds making it ideal for day-to-day transactions, contracts and interactions. A Zone chain can also reference other Zone chains in different Region Chains. As a result, the majority of activities on the Quai Network will take place on Zone chains.

 to ensure security across the 13-chain topology. A Coincident block is a block that can be used in more than one Quai blockchain. This happens when a miner finds a nonce that meets the difficulty thresholds for more than one blockchain. This is useful because it allows for cross-chain transactions and contract interactions between different chains.

The following are the rules for Coincident blocks:

The merged mined structure of the Quai Network enables it to natively bridge between chains. As a result, it's possible to invoke cross-chain contracts and move assets between chains. The following are the three most critical elements of the Quai Network:

Quai Network uses the concept of combined CPU mining power to secure the blockchain. Using the 

, the Quai Network PoW 2.0 framework improves the speed and security of PoW 1.0 used by similar blockchains. The increased block space can also accommodate global demand without high gas fees. Furthermore, with a higher capacity, the PoW 2.0 framework reduces the carbon footprint for every transaction. This ties in with one of Quai Network’s aims of becoming a carbon-neutral blockchain.

 helps split resources horizontally through the creation of new chains, which increases transaction speed and reduces network congestion.

With sharded chains, validators can easily store and run the data for individual shards they are validating without having to use expensive and powerful computers. In fact, they may eventually be able to run Quai Network on their smartphone. This lowers the barrier to entry for network validator participation due to the reduced hardware requirements, which in turn leads to greater decentralization, thereby increasing network speed and security.

 across different blockchains. Unlike most other blockchains, the Quai Network header contains data for all three chains: Prime, Region and Zone. Miners use the Quai Manager to mine the combined header block.

When mining on Quai Network, miners can choose from nine different "slices,” enabling them to find and mine the header of Prime, Region and Zone based on the difficulty requirement associated with each chain.

 in November 2021 was the first step in building a robust foundation for Quai Network’s development and stability. At the time, miners could earn QUAI tokens native to the Quai Network in exchange for validating and making transactions on the network.

The successful implementation of the Stone Age Testnet was followed by the 

 in February 2022. By taking part in the development, participants earned rewards for running a miner or node, deploying smart contracts and sending transactions on Quai.

, the network reached 1.4 million total blocks mined, 110K transactions, and 1,700 nodes within a month. 

Just a month into these developments in March 2022, Dominant Strategies received $8 million from Polychain Capital, a renowned U.S. crypto venture capital firm. The investment proved a major landmark in the subsequent development of the Quai Network, enabling the project to hire additional members and complete future milestones.

In May 2022, two months after the first major funding, the project raised another $2 million in funds from Alumni Ventures — the third most active capital venture firm in the world. In a 

, the management of Alumni Ventures praised the novel approach of Quai Network in solving the blockchain trilemma through its shared security via merged mining.

As Quai Network grew from the inflow of funds, the team launched the 

. The highly selective ambassador program selects influencers from around the world to create content, host meet-ups, engage the local community and create developer-friendly resources. In exchange, they get to earn exclusive rewards.

Similarly, Quai Network oversees a very active social media community across several platforms including Twitter, YouTube, Reddit, TikTok and Instagram. Community members get rewards in the form of QUAI tokens.

To improve coordination among community members, the developers released a beta version of the 

 in October 2022. The Quai Dashboard lets users check their social media rewards and interact with testnets.

Today, Quai Network has achieved global scalability while remaining incredibly secure and decentralized. Going forward, it seeks to achieve limitless scalability by deploying its mainnet.

The QUAI token is at the heart of the Quai Network ecosystem. The network has hard-capped the token supply to 100 million, which should decrease inflation in the short term. In the future, the limited supply of QUAI will also address any concerns surrounding deflation.

If you're patient and believe in reaping investment rewards in the long run, QUAI bears the hallmarks of a good investment. It has all the traits to develop into a meaningful project.

The Quai Network has a strong team that is actively working on improving the blockchain. The backing of major investors, a strong community and a clear roadmap are factors that make QUAI a viable investment for your portfolio.

From an investment perspective, QUAI can provide a solid return on investment (ROI). Its mainnet launch is a much-awaited event, which can stimulate more investment opportunities and potentially result in a high price of the QUAI token. 

Quai Network (QUAI): Achieving Scalability Through PoW 2.0

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