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

web3

Candy Pocket is a web3 wallet that provides users with a simplified, fast payment processing solution. Find out more about how it works here.

Cryptocurrencies have disrupted the financial system in exciting ways, but most crypto projects thus far have required users to purchase native tokens in order to participate. Candy Pocket is an innovative project that offers a superior payment option, along with a variety of great perks to benefit users. With a closer look at what Candy Pocket is and how it works, you can make a well-informed decision on whether to participate in this next-level crypto project.

Uniquely, Candy Pocket doesn’t require users to purchase its native token, CANDY, in order to participate. Instead, it offers three distinctive opportunities for users to receive CANDY by participating in the platform and promoting its growth. Sharing the platform to attract more users and inviting users to participate in 

 gameplay can result in CANDY rewards. In addition, holding CANDY tokens generates additional CANDY as a reward.

Candy Pocket is designed to be a next-generation internet DApp that moves the user experience (

 specifically targets the centralized sovereignty that’s currently in place on the internet. By disrupting the status quo, it aims to restore users’ control over their own data and help to establish a higher-level metaverse.

To get started with Candy Pocket, a user must 

. Once it’s been created, the user receives a free NFT mining machine. In addition, the 

 increases as the user invites others to participate. In turn, this results in greater rewards for the user. 

The base hash rate of 0.4 remains in place for recommendations of up to six new users, increasing to 0.88 for 7–15 people, 1.28 for 16–29 people and 1.88 for ＞30 people.

Candy Pocket is a secure and trustworthy payment processing project that benefits users around the world, including in third-world countries. The innovative functionality of Candy Pocket is established via several key features.

When a new user opens an account and registers as a user, they receive an NFT mining machine at no cost. Mining on Candy Pocket is designed to be quick and easy, enabling enhanced growth of the platform. The only step required to receive mining benefits is to log in every 24 hours and to reinitiate mining through a one-click process.

NFT mining is open to all Candy Pocket users. Mining initially produces 0.4 new CANDY tokens per hour. This threshold remains in place until the user has invited seven or more new users to participate. There are three tiers in the Share to Earn reward system; the greatest rewards are available for those who invite more than 30 new users to the platform.

Through NFT mining, as well as the Share to Earn mechanism, Candy Pocket users can earn CANDY without making an initial investment. Candy Pocket will also offer a staking mechanism called Hold to Earn. Though the specific details of this function aren’t yet available, it will add a new opportunity for Candy Pocket users to profit from participating on the network.

The Share to Earn feature lets users earn CANDY tokens by inviting new users to Candy Pocket, while the Share and Invite platform offers additional incentives for those who invite others to participate in the platform’s DApps. The specific incentives for Share and Invite vary, according to the specific DApp.

Candy Pocket has three node levels, called 

: Global initial node, global middle node and global high node. The node level is based on how many referrals have been made. The global initial node is established for up to 99 referrals, global middle node requires between 100 and 199 referrals, and users reach global high node after making 200 or more referrals. The hash rate gets better as you advance in node levels, which incentivizes users to refer more friends and family to earn more rewards.

. The first phase is the establishment of NFT mining, during which users who create an account will be given a free NFT mining machine that allows them to start mining CANDY rewards for free. 

After a billion CANDY tokens have been produced, NFT mining will stop and 

 will commence. This marks the start of the second phase. Once C2C trading is launched, CANDY’s price will begin at 0.1 USDT per piece, and its price will increase once every 24 hours at a range of between 0.001–0.1 USDT. Also in the second phase, DeFi pledge mining will start, continuing until 900 million additional tokens are produced. 

Once a total of 1.2 billion CANDY tokens have been produced, Candy Pocket will enter its third and final phase, in which the Candy Metaverse will be launched. When the total token amount rises to 1.5 billion, dividends earned from the project will be given out to CANDY holders. 

There are 2.1 billion CANDY tokens available. Of this supply, 90% are allocated specifically for the platform’s NFT holders. While CANDY can be used in conjunction with other cryptos, CANDY can be used to make purchases as well. 

While no purchase of CANDY tokens is required to participate on the Candy Pocket platform, you can purchase CANDY to add to your supply and reap greater benefits from the Hold to Earn staking mechanism. CANDY tokens can be purchased on the Bybit Spot trading platform as of Jun 13, 2023. 

 and fund it with cryptocurrency. Then, proceed to the 

 to trade. To celebrate this listing, Bybit will also be holding a 

 from Jun 12–26, 2023. Users who accumulate deposits of at least 500 CANDY can receive 100 CANDY out of the 180,000 CANDY prize pool. 

With several thousand crypto projects currently active, finding solid projects to invest in requires close review. Candy Pocket is a project with true utility as a payment processing platform. There is no initial CANDY token purchase requirement to participate. In fact, once a user opens a new Candy Pocket account, they can begin generating rewards through mining. As mentioned above, additional rewards are available by inviting others to the platform and taking other steps. 

Because of these factors, Candy Pocket has tremendous growth potential both as an investment and for utility. With no initial investment required, participating in the project makes sense. However, before investing in any crypto project, it’s important to understand the risks. Crypto prices are generally volatile, and are subject to many market forces. It’s recommended you 

Candy Pocket is more than just another cryptocurrency project. It offers exceptional utility for its users. More than that, it allows users to benefit from that utility without making an initial investment. Candy Pocket is also designed to foster growth through its various features and incentives. You only need to open an account in order to start mining and earning CANDY, so it makes sense to get started today.

Candy Pocket (CANDY): A Sweet Payment Solution for Users

Grab Up to 5,000 USDT in Rewards

Grab Up to 5,000 USDT in Rewards