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

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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

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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

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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.

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

Bybit Learn

Memes

Altcoins

GROK is a token inspired by Elon Musk's Grok AI program. Some believe it is a scam, while others maintain it's a viable meme coin with a promising structure.

The cryptocurrency market is filled with opportunities, but all of this potential for profit comes with some major risks. The saga of the GROK token is a great example of the possible pitfalls of 

 soar to almost $138 million. However, once people realized the GROK team was closely linked to past crypto scams, the coin’s price plummeted. Learning more about this fascinating controversy can help you get better at identifying crypto scams and making smart investments.

GROK is a cryptocurrency token inspired by Elon Musk's Grok AI program. Though it's not affiliated with Musk, GROK's name is an homage to his plan to add humor to AI chatbots. Some crypto enthusiasts believe the token is a scam, while others assert it's a viable meme coin with a promising structure.

GROK aims to be an effective meme coin. Instead of offering users any unique features or services, the coin's main purpose is to generate hype that can drive up its price. To accomplish this goal, the coin's creators chose to create crypto tokens connected to Elon Musk's AI venture,the 

 project, first released on Nov 4, 2023, which aims to release an artificial intelligence chatbot inspired by the humor of author Douglas Adams’s 

One day after Grok's announcement, someone created cryptocurrency tokens named GROK. Though not officially affiliated with Musk in any way, the hope was to capitalize on public interest in Grok and create a token whose price would rise if Elon Musk's Grok AI does well. Though the GROK project doesn't have various features like tokens such as 

, the GROK team does say that they plan to provide more transparency than some other meme coins’ platforms.

Little is known about the mechanics behind GROK. The cryptocurrency project has a

 that only discusses Elon Musk's AI venture, and no white paper has been released. In fact, the only thing known about the coin is that it's an 

GROK mostly relies on its social media platform to accomplish its goals, along with an active X account that regularly releases memes related to crypto and to the artificial intelligence chatbot inspired by science fiction humor. By posting humorous images and interacting with the crypto space, the coin’s creator hopes to generate enough interest to increase the coin’s price.

The only details GROK’s creator(s) have given the public are that the token is Ethereum-based, and that they plan on regularly sending tokens to a 

 address to help reduce inflation. Precise details on token distribution and/or burn schedules are unknown.

With various crypto exchanges reporting different token supply amounts and market caps, it's difficult to pin down any details on this token. Therefore, some people have suggested GROK may be misleading the public about their tokenomics.

When it was first released on Nov 5, 2023, this crypto token did an excellent job of capitalizing on hype from Elon Musk's Grok AI project. In the first 24 hours of trading alone, the meme coin’s trading volume was $9 million. Its price 

 as it quickly reached an all-time high of $0.02439827 by Nov 13.

However, this popularity didn’t last long. On Nov 13, a crypto sleuth named ZachXBT released news that immediately halted the runaway prices. 

 on the X (formerly Twitter) social media platform that said, "Not that people in this space will care but @GROKERC20 $GROK was created by a scammer. Same exact X/Twitter account has been reused for at least one other scam." 

This information was backed up with screenshots showing that the @GROKERC20 Twitter account had changed its name recently and used to be associated with "Bitcoin Express," a controversial crypto project.

Following this reveal, prices immediately crashed. Within minutes, the token lost 74% of its value. The GROK team rushed to address the issue by releasing a statement on their social media platforms that the old Twitter name was due to a legitimate but failed project. They also tried to regain public trust by maintaining they would send 180 million tokens held by the GROK development team to a burn address.

So far, this social media platform activity hasn’t been enough to get the crypto space interested in GROK again. GROK is currently trading for around $0.008. There’s still a lot of public unease around the coin, which hasn't been helped by the release of more concerning news: Other users who scrutinized past GROK trades noticed that 

 right before the negative news was released — and then bought back 16 million GROK once the price plummeted. This suspicious trading activity has further convinced crypto enthusiasts that the GROK team might be misleading the public.

For most users, GROK will not be a smart investment. It's possible that some people will make money off of further price fluctuations, but that will be due mainly to random chance. 

Not only does GROK display the usual volatility of meme coins, but unlike options such as 

 and Shiba Inu it also has a controversial background and suspicious leadership. The project appears to be a 

, and any continued trading will be due to the simple fact that it’s in the news right now. GROK is probably not a coin you should buy unless you have a lot of money you're willing to use, and are interested in gambling on its success.

Ultimately, GROK is a great example of why it's so important to be cautious with your investment choices. The key to 

 before you buy any token or coin. When GROK was first released, many users purchased it due to hype on social media platforms and a few promising graphs. If they’d taken the time to vet the coin's founders and realize there was a concerning lack of information about how the coin works, they could have avoided losing a lot of money.

Another essential tenet is that meme coins are often an unreliable investment in the first place. Even if a project isn't so bad that you end up needing help with 

, it's easy to lose money due to market fluctuations. For investors without a lot of money to lose, it's often a smarter choice to invest in 

GROK is an excellent example of how things can go wrong in the crypto world. The open and unregulated nature of cryptocurrency makes it possible for malicious actors to take advantage of people — and even a single, concerning “tweet” can be enough to deflate prices. Investors who wish to avoid these pitfalls need to be highly cautious about the types of coins they purchase.

Grok (GROK): From Viral Sensation to Controversial Meme Coin

Grab Up to 5,000 USDT in Rewards

Grab Up to 5,000 USDT in Rewards