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

block-scholes-x-bybit-report.jpeg

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

flock.png

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

network3 tutorial.png

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.

2.png

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

DeFi

Altcoins

Blockchain

Tenet is a Layer 1 EVM-compatible blockchain running on the Cosmos SDK which uses the Diversified Proof of Stake (DiPoS) model that lets LSD holders become validators by staking across a basket of assets.

LSDC-Tenet_Stablecoin_Protocol.png

ttenet-vetenet.png

 holds limitless opportunities, especially in the realm of 

 (DeFi). One game-changing blockchain that opened up the world to a whole new financial realm is Ethereum, with its introduction of 

 that enable token holders to earn passive income through 

 and providing liquidity to decentralized exchanges.

In addition, there’s an increasing number of blockchain projects that have adopted 

 (PoS) consensus mechanisms to power their smart contract–based ecosystems. Ethereum’s switch to PoS blockchain via 

 (LSDs), a capital-efficient alternative to traditional staking.

Now, another innovative narrative has entered the space. Known as Diversified Proof of Stake (DiPoS), it lets you restake your staked assets on another chain through the Tenet blockchain.

Let’s learn about Tenet and how its DiPoS concept can help maximize returns from LSDs.

-compatible blockchain running on the Cosmos SDK. It’s designed to increase liquidity and provide various yield opportunities to LSDs by providing a way to use them as collateral to network validators.

Tenet uses a highly secure and inclusive concept, called Diversified Proof of Stake (

), which allows validators to reach a consensus by staking across a basket of assets. With Tenet, those who have locked tokens in LSD protocols such as 

 can restake these assets across other chains to increase their yield. This dramatically improves the LSD staking experience, as users can freely move their LSDs between chains to leverage more yield opportunities. Stakers can triple their yield with Tenet, as it provides three sources of yield; LSD yield, Tenet validator rewards and tLSD DeFi usage rewards.

Furthermore, Tenet’s native stablecoin, LSDC, is minted by staking LSDs on the network, allowing holders to benefit from other yield opportunities across the DeFi ecosystem. To increase liquidity even more, Tenet intends to launch a 

Tenet builds on the concept of PoS consensus, popular for its scalability and cost-efficiency, with its novel DiPoS concept. Despite countless innovative projects entering the space, there have been few improvements to the PoS model. Hence, Tenet’s enhanced DiPoS framework introduces a potentially groundbreaking approach to DeFi.

To understand how Tenet works, let’s first look at two critical terms.

With DiPoS, validators on Tenet’s network reach a consensus by staking across a basket of assets. In the traditional staking model, only one type of native asset can be locked to a given blockchain. However, DiPoS makes interchain staking possible because multiple assets can be locked across different chains.

One of the greatest strengths of such a model is enhanced security, since there’s distributed market strength across different assets, making it difficult for a single entity to control the basket of assets. The supported assets are Ethereum (

LSDs are a tokenized form of staked assets that allow you to accrue rewards from an underlying staked asset. Unlike traditionally staked assets, which remain locked for a fixed period, LSDs can be moved around different DeFi protocols to earn additional yields while still providing stability and security to a network. Some of the most popular LSDs in the space include 

Via the DiPoS module, Tenet is able to wrap around a native blockchain’s staking module without making major modifications or needing consensus on the core modules. To validate transactions, Tenet targets LSD holders, who can stake their assets to become validators or delegate to other nodes.

Tenet aims to boost liquidity to the LSD market and help LSD holders maximize the yield they can earn from their LSD tokens. On top of the original LSD yield, LSD providers can earn from transaction fees and block rewards for securing the Tenet network. The amount of the DiPoS asset reward is determined by 

 holders, who set parameters for the reward gauges.

Furthermore, Tenet provides an in-house liquid staking protocol that allows you to liquefy your staking position in any of the supported baskets of assets. The zero-fee feature helps you bypass the 10% management fee that you would incur when using other LSD protocols.

What Is the Liquid Staking Dollar (LSDC)?

 (LSDC) is the USD-pegged native stablecoin of the Tenet Stablecoin Protocol, a DApp on the Tenet blockchain that allows you to use LSDC stablecoins to borrow interest-free loans collateralized by yield-bearing assets.

The Tenet Stablecoin Protocol is capital-efficient and unique, since it’s noncustodial and governed through an omnichain decentralized system. LSDC is minted against LSD assets. such as ETH (twstETH/tcbETH) and BNB (tankrBNB) that have been staked to secure Tenet’s network. 

After staking the LSD assets, you’ll be able to borrow an LSDC amount proportional to the amount of collateral deposited into the Collateralized Liquid Interest Position (CLIP), which you can then deposit in the 

 for rewards such as liquidation gains and minting and redemption fees. With CLIP in place, you can keep generating interest from the LSD assets, even though you’ve borrowed LSDC against the LSD tokens, as the LSDs are staked via the CLIP smart contract.

Following are some of the benefits of LSDC, as compared to stablecoins of protocols such as MakerDAO:

 for the Tenet blockchain. You need TENET tokens to pay gas fees to execute transactions on Tenet. In addition, you can stake TENET tokens in order to become a validator and help power Tenet’s DiPoS consensus mechanism.

Once you stake TENET with a staking provider on Tenet’s network, you’ll receive Tenet’s LSD, known as tTENET, which helps you earn staking rewards for securing the network. In short, TENET is the crypto token that acts as the base layer of the Tenet protocol’s operations.

Tenet operates based on a model known as vote-escrowed tokenomics (veTokenomics), which incentivizes users to participate in a network’s governance. The two main tokens in this model are tTENET and veTENET.

tTenet is the LSD token issued once you stake TENET to become a network validator and earn validator rewards. As a staker, you also get to vote on selecting new LSDs to add to the Tenet blockchain. 

You can lock your tTENET tokens into a vote-escrowed account to receive veTENET tokens, opening you to a wide range of income streams in the TENET ecosystem. Per the schedule in the chart below, you can lock tTENET for a maximum of four years as follows:

To maintain a healthy ecosystem, new TENET tokens are continuously sent to a 

 (gauge), and as a veTENET holder, you get to participate in voting on which gauge will receive the new tokens and how they’ll be distributed.

Apart from gauge voting, veTENET holders also participate in governance voting over blockchain decisions, including changing validators. As a reward for their participation in governance, VeTENET holders receive revenue from activities across the network, such as chain fees from Tenet validators and various protocol fees in the Tenet ecosystem.

As of Jul 18, 2023, Tenet’s price was $0.16, which is a 54% drop from its all-time high (ATH) price of $0.346 on May 25, 2023, and over 100% increase from its all-time low (ATL) price of $0.076 on Jun 14, 2023.

Price experts forecast a general increase in Tenet’s future price. 

, the Tenet token’s price could hit $0.57 in 2025 and rise to $1.67 in 2030. CoinDataFlow projects 

 in Tenet’s price, predicting it to increase to $1.15 in 2025 but falling slightly below $1 by 2030.

However, these price predictions aren’t guarantees of TENET’s future prices. We highly recommend that you 

Tenet is one project to watch, because it’s a pioneer in creating a DeFi ecosystem for liquid staking assets. The rapidly growing LSD market presents vast opportunities for asset holders looking for a way to grow returns in a capital-efficient manner. Tenet’s novel DiPoS model offers an innovative approach to maximize yield for LSDs.

Furthermore, Tenet has entered into strategic partnerships that will help scale the LSDFi market. Tenet’s partnership with top blockchain infrastructure provider 

 will help discount the integration costs of LSDs by blockchains. Tenet has also partnered with China-endorsed 

 to open up their stakers to Tenet’s ecosystem.

In addition to these strategic partnerships, Tenet’s innovative approach to LSDFi doesn’t seem to have any significant competitors. As such, Tenet is a good investment for investors looking to explore DeFi in a unique way.

You can buy TENET tokens as a Spot pair (

) on Bybit. Not only will you get to interact with the platform’s user-friendly interface, but you’ll experience a whole new web3 world. Simply 

 to trade TENET, in addition to many other cryptocurrencies.

The LSDFi niche in DeFi is rapidly growing, as investors look for capital-efficient ways to utilize their assets. Tenet’s DiPoS model opens DeFi protocols to a wide range of yield opportunities backed with increased security by staking across a basket of assets. 

With a strong team forging substantial partnerships and keen on scaling LSDs, Tenet is on the right growth trajectory and is a DeFi project to watch.

TENET: Maximizing Yield With Diversified Staking

Grab Up to 5,000 USDT in Rewards

Grab Up to 5,000 USDT in Rewards