Unichain, Uniswap’s L2 network, now handles over 76% of Uniswap v4 volume, driven by UNI incentives and its new Rollup-Boost feature. 

The S&P 500 jumped 3.26% as US-China tariff easing lifted market sentiment. Investors now await CPI and retail data for signs of inflation trends under the new trade regime. Gold fell near $3,208 as easing US-China trade tensions reduced safe-haven demand. With CPI data ahead, further downside is likely. Technicals suggest bearish momentum, with key support at $3,202. The Coindesk Indices, which tracks the broader crypto market, fell 1.97%, with Bitcoin and Ether down 2.53% and 0.95%, 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 RUNE, which surged by 4.4% following the completion of Halborn's security audit for Rujira Network's omnichain DeFi layer on THORChain.

THORChain (RUNE), created in 2018, is a decentralized protocol enabling native asset swaps across blockchains without wrapping. Built on Cosmos SDK and Tendermint, it uses Proof-of-Stake and Byzantine Fault Tolerance for secure cross-chain transactions. Halborn has 

 a smart contract security audit for Rujira Network, which is building an omnichain DeFi app layer on THORChain. Rujira enables seamless access to DeFi apps using native assets across connected chains.

Check out the latest prices, charts, and data of 

Unichain, Uniswap’s L2 network, now handles over 76% of Uniswap v4 volume, driven by UNI incentives and its new Rollup-Boost feature. This upgrade enhances MEV handling, cuts failed transaction gas costs, and sets the stage for Flashblocks—an upcoming 200ms block time system. Despite v4’s growth, Uniswap v3 still leads in total volume. The aim of Unichain is to solve Ethereum mainnet and L2 liquidity fragmentation while improving speed and decentralization.

Yesterday, BTC spot ETFs saw total outflows of $64.2 million, with $32.9 million from GBTC and $31.3 million from all other ETFs combined.

Multipli’s Season 1 has ended with 359.2M ORBs distributed (50% of supply). 

, allocating 30% of ORBs. Users can continue earning by keeping funds on mainnet or testnet—no action required. New users can join via testnet (free) or deposit stablecoins on BSC/Ethereum.

Beginner

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Unichain leads Uniswap v4 activity with rollup-boost upgrade and upcoming flashblocks feature

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.

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.

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.

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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

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GameFi

Love old-school games like Tamagotchi? Make sure to check out Walken with its CAThlete NFTs and gamified take on exercise.

, it’s clear that the move-to-earn movement has made big strides in the GameFi scene. From running off-road outdoors to scaling treadmill inclines, these move-to-earn projects are finding all sorts of ways to make working out engaging and profitable for the average investor. This is certainly the case with the up-and-coming project Walken. Curious about how this walk-to-earn game is attempting to take over the move-to-earn scene? Read on as we explore what makes Walken a solid GameFi project, determine whether WLKN tokens are a good investment and highlight Walken’s ambitious DeFi ideals.

Progression in Walken is easy. Each verified step contributes to players’ overall step count. As it increases, they’ll earn Gems which will go towards upgrading their CAThlete’s stats. This increases their odds of winning at competitions where players can earn WLKN tokens for winning, with rewards depending on the league that players are taking part in. This will be the main way players earn WLKN tokens from the game as they continually stay active, earn Gems and use them to refine their CAThlete’s attributes.

Competitions come in three formats, namely Urban Running, Sprint Running and Marathon Race. Each competition format corresponds with a particular attribute. Strength is related to Urban Running, Speed is related to Sprint Running and Stamina is related to Marathon Race. This variety ensures players aren’t forced to focus on a single specific attribute and instead are given more leeway when it comes to the type of competition they prefer to take part in. Additionally, it should be noted that the higher the league, the greater the minimum CAThlete level required so players need to continually work at improving their CAThelets over time.

Once players have earned enough WLKN tokens, they can expand their CAThlete customization options by outfitting their NFT with accessories that improve specific stats. This opens up even more opportunities for earning WLKN tokens as players can strategize by purchasing NFT accessories that make up for their CAThlete’s weaker attributes or choose ones that further improve their strengths.

Conversely, players can also purchase new CAThletes from the marketplace that have a whole different set of attributes that players can pick and choose from to tailor to their competition and league preferences.

WLKN is the game’s native token users will receive for winning competitions that their CAThlete NFTs take part in. With WLKN tokens, players can perform a myriad of actions that include:

With this much WLKN token utility, the team hopes to create a deflationary effect as WLKN tokens are burnt when players engage in some of these various processes.

Overall, there’s a total supply of two billion WLKN tokens, which will be released over the length of the Walken project. While details are still scarce when it comes to WLKN tokens’ exact distribution, eager investors and those hyped for Walken can check out the 

, where twenty million WLKN tokens can be earned through either committing 

As we’re moving towards a post-pandemic environment, we’re seeing more and more users transitioning away from the sedentary lifestyle of being cooped up at home and embracing a more active lifestyle. Thus, it’s easy to see why move-to-earn is the next big narrative GameFi projects are trying to capture. With all this in consideration, it’s easy to see why many users are bullish when it comes to the future prospects of Walken and WLKN tokens. From its casual design that appeals to the masses to its ambitious goal of getting users involved in DeFi via the Walken protocol, Walken certainly has the potential to be a big name player in the move-to-earn space.

When it comes to evaluating if WLKN tokens are a good investment for the future, we can simply look at Walken’s roadmap and future plans to expand their ecosystem. Down the line, we can expect Walken to enable staking functionality, CAThlete cross-breeding and a fully fleshed out DeFi platform that encourages developers to create apps revolving around the Walken ecosystem. All of these plans point towards increased utility for WLKN tokens, making the 

 strategy for WLKN tokens even stronger if investors are already confident in the project’s long-term future.

Walken (WLKN): The Walk-to-Earn App With Big DeFi Dreams

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