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

Explainers

DeFi

Cetus is a decentralized exchange (DEX) that employs the concentrated liquidity market maker (CLMM) trading model, which allows liquidity providers to allocate their funds to custom price ranges within a pool.

 (AMMs), with their revolutionary liquidity pool concept, have been instrumental in boosting the profile of the 

 (DeFi) industry, which is actively exploring new trading models to further enhance the efficiency of token swaps and liquidity provision. In this quest, the concentrated liquidity market maker (CLMM) model has emerged as a major improvement to that of the AMM.

CLMMs allow liquidity providers to allocate their funds to a pool within specific price ranges in order to optimize the utilization of their liquidity. Most early CLMM platforms emerged on 

 (ETH)— the default choice for many DeFi operators. However, Ethereum’s network congestion, slow confirmation times and high transaction fees make its network a less-than-ideal environment for a CLMM application.

Cetus (CETUS), a DeFi project launched in 2022, has now brought the CLMM concept to newer and more technically suitable platforms — the 

 (DEX) that uses the concentrated liquidity market maker (CLMM), a liquidity provision model that represents an improvement over the standard AMM setup used by many DEXs.

) on a CLMM exchange can allocate their funds to specific price ranges within a pool. These are often the ranges within which the most active token swap activity occurs. The CLMM model allows LPs to optimize the use of their funds and maximize the revenue earned from transaction activity in a DEX pool. While Cetus runs on two

 blockchains, Aptos (APT) and Sui (SUI), it can be bridged to over 20 other blockchains via the 

Cetus was initially launched as an AMM platform in late 2022 on Aptos and Sui. In early 2023, the DEX upgraded its functionality to CLMM on both chains. The launch of a CLMM beta version on Aptos in January was a pivotal moment for Cetus. Since then, the project has been active in promoting the benefits of CLMM over AMM, and has attracted considerable interest from the DeFi trader community.

Cetus isn’t the first DEX to adopt the CLMM model. In 2021, the concentrated liquidity concept was first introduced on the Ethereum-based 

 (UNI), and most CLMM DEXs are based on the world’s largest DeFi chain. However, Ethereum — with its network congestion, high fees and relatively slow transaction confirmation times — is no longer an optimal environment for high-precision DeFi models like CLMM. Newer and more suitable platforms, such as Aptos and Sui, have emerged as alternatives to Ethereum, and the Cetus team has taken note.

LPs earn fees on Cetus from the trading activity that occurs within a specified price range for the pair of tokens in the pool. As an LP, you can add liquidity to swap pools using four modes — Conservative, Active, Full Range and Custom.

The Conservative mode, which allows you to choose a wider price range, is ideal for newer mainstream tokens like APT (Aptos) and SOL (

). The wider price interval ensures a lower risk of the swap rate moving outside of your specified range in the course of market activity. However, the more diluted range reduces your earnings potential, so you can expect relatively lower returns.

The Active mode suits time-tested blue-chip cryptos such as  

 (BTC) and Ethereum. It lets you allocate liquidity to a more constrained price range, boosting your earnings when trading activity occurs within that range. However, it also increases the risk of the actual swap price moving outside of your chosen interval.

There’s also the Full mode, which basically replicates the standard AMM. Lastly, the Custom range is for true DeFi pros. It lets you specify your custom-chosen price range within whatever precision levels you need.

When you provide liquidity to a Cetus pool, the platform issues you a 

 that confirms your price range position and entitles you to earn fees from 

 within the range. Using NFTs as a liquidity pool confirmation asset is a peculiar feature of the protocol, as most other DEXs use fungible 

Liquidity mining on Cetus is also far more rewarding for active LPs than on a standard DEX. In a typical AMM-based DEX, an LP’s earnings are based on the amount contributed to the pool. In contrast, Cetus distributes liquidity mining rewards based on an LP’s performance in the pool. The more skillfully you allocate your price ranges and help the protocol efficiently utilize your liquidity, the more rewards you can expect from your performance.

Cetus also supports price allocations for single-sided liquidity mining. You can specify range orders to execute if your target asset in a pool reaches certain values. This opens the door to the use of popular single-asset trading methods often found in 

Cetus offers valuable services not only to liquidity miners and traders, but also to DeFi developers and platform operators. The Cetus-based oracle records and communicates information on the liquidity and pricing data in the pools. It can be integrated by other DeFi protocols in order to feed the information into their own platforms and markets.

Concentrated Liquidity Market Maker (CLMM) vs. Automated Market Maker (AMM)

Concentrated liquidity — in which LPs allocate their funds only to specific, usually most actively traded, price ranges — has been a significant concept in the evolution of DeFi. AMMs spread liquidity uniformly across the entire price curve, which results in the underutilization of the total liquidity. In contrast, CLMM platforms like Cetus put much more of the total liquidity to active use, thanks to their range-based models. This helps CLMM platforms achieve superior liquidity efficiency as compared to AMMs.

CLMM offers advantages to all the parties involved — LPs, token swappers and the platform itself. LPs can earn more rewards than on an AMM DEX by actively allocating their liquidity to the “hot spots” of the trading activity. The CLMM platform benefits from the increase in active liquidity utilization as well. Finally, token swappers get the benefits of more choice in well-funded pool pairs, and lower 

CETUS is the Cetus protocol’s main cryptocurrency. Its function is to act as a medium of exchange and payment on the platform. CETUS can also be staked to issue xCETUS tokens (covered below), which let you participate in on-platform governance.

The CETUS token has been issued on Sui. It’s a supply-capped crypto with a maximum supply of one billion.

 section states that the token can initially be earned only via participation in on-platform activities, specifically through liquidity mining. That might explain its current circulating supply of just 80 million (8% of the total supply). As the platform matures, the circulating supply is likely to increase rapidly. However, this feature of CETUS doesn’t mean that the token has any limitations on being traded on the market.

xCETUS, another crypto token used within the protocol, is envisioned mainly as a governance token, although it has some additional functions. When users lock a certain amount of CETUS, they’re issued non-transferable xCETUS in equal proportion, giving them the right to participate in on-platform governance voting. The more xCETUS you hold, the greater your voting power.

Additionally, xCETUS may be used to boost your rewards from certain liquidity pools. The token is also used to calculate eligibility for participation and buying quotas of users interested in the Cetus 

As of Dec 14, 2023, the CETUS token is trading at $0.059, or 59.23% lower than its all-time high of $0.147 recorded on May 10, 2023 and over 120% higher than its ATL of $0.027 on Jun 12, 2023.

Long-term price predictions for CETUS are bullish, with PricePrediction 

 it will reach $0.16 in 2025 and $1.18 in 2030. Meanwhile, DigitalCoinPrice 

 the token to trade at $0.22 in 2025 and $0.63 in 2030.

You may consider investing in the CETUS token for the following reasons, both of which might act as substantial growth drivers for it:

Ethereum features confirmation times of around 15 seconds, although some transactions may linger in an unconfirmed state for minutes. The confirmation times on Aptos and Sui are approximately five seconds and one second, respectively. This nuance could contribute to a significant inflow of users, both LPs and token traders, to Cetus— and away from Ethereum-based platforms.

Concentrated liquidity mining was pioneered by Uniswap back in 2021. Now, Cetus is taking this innovative DeFi model to new heights by leveraging technically efficient blockchains. If the Cetus protocol manages to gather enough support and appreciation for its service among DeFi enthusiasts, we’re likely to see CLMM move from the category of niche concepts to the industry mainstream.

A few years ago, the AMM was also considered an advanced niche, perhaps even a gimmicky concept. Fast forward to today, and AMM has established itself as the default for powering a DEX. The time has arrived for AMM to pass the stage to CLMM. Over the next few years, expect CLMM to become the default method for trading tokens and providing liquidity — and one of the key platforms that will drive this monumental industry-wide change is going to be Cetus.

Cetus Protocol (CETUS): Elevating DeFi With Concentrated Liquidity

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