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

Pop Social is a web3 social media platform that uses blockchain technology to give content creators ownership over their designs. Learn more here.

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 innovators want to design a product that can capitalize on the popularity of social media. However, pairing social media concepts with web3 technology can be tricky. A new project, Pop Social, hopes to appeal to users by offering a uniquely accessible experience. Can the Pop platform actually attract a billion users and successfully market their crypto and NFTs? To see whether Pop Social is likely to find success, explore this guide to discover all the details about Pop's founders, design and its plans for the future.

 that uses blockchain technology to give content creators ownership over their designs. Unlike many other web3 social media projects, the Pop app provides a convenient space for users to connect with each other.

The Pop Social media platform contains an impressive lineup of 

. Its CEO and co-founder, Michael Shen, has more than eight years of experience in the blockchain industry, and its CPO, Dr. Joey G. Chou, has a doctoral degree from MIT as well as experience at Apple.

Pop Social’s team of dedicated developers was inspired by the success of modern social media companies. They realized there was a huge demand for a blockchain-based social media platform that encourages people to socialize and be creative, so they heavily prioritized user feedback in carefully designing a system that people would actually enjoy using. This simple yet effective concept quickly gained a lot of attention from investors, and Pop Social was able to raise $4 million in funding for their project.

 is to "decentralize the world's creativity." Essentially, they want to create a free and open creator economy in which Pop Social users can explore a variety of different features. The eventual goal of the Pop Social Ecosystem is to combine entertainment, content generation and social media into a single community-led platform.

Compared to other web3 social media sites, Pop focuses a little more on content ownership and user convenience. Much of their project emphasizes the importance of empowering Pop users. People retain all rights over the content they create, and can choose to monetize their content ownership as they wish. Another priority of Pop Social is to ensure that users have a convenient interface that works well, even for people who are new to blockchain technology.

Pop Social is a blockchain-based system built on BNB Chain and 

 on these chains, the system can track things like unique user items, market transactions and account data. Generative AI creates a modular system through which all sorts of builders and creators can access Pop.

To support their robust creator economy, Pop Labs has created a self-sustaining token system. Their 

 is used for both user purchases and payments, so people can earn tokens from Pop and use them to pay for more goods within the Pop Social Ecosystem. Pop users can obtain tokens by engaging with each other through Pop Social and use the tokens to buy everything from items on the Pop NFT marketplace to votes in the Pop governing organization.

Pop Social users don’t need to engage directly with all of the platform’s high-tech components. Instead, most people who use the platform will interact with it through the decentralized Pop 

, which is downloadable on phones and allows people to create an account from which to access all of the different Pop Social products.

The Pop Social media platform encompasses a broad range of different projects. Since its creators want to produce a gathering space that includes every part of the web3 community, they've included a variety of features.

The Pop Ecosystem is the structure that manages the entire platform. It's a multi-chain aggregator that connects multiple communities in a single location with a Pop NFTs studio, gaming system, news aggregator, streaming access, DeFi wallet and more. The Pop Ecosystem aims to provide every type of module that content creators need to interact with each other and their audiences.

This virtual realm has inspired the entire Pop NFT Collection. Various characters follow diverse storylines through a cyberpunk theme. This lore allows users to engage in the Pop Universe while also investing through the Pop NFT marketplace, and to explore a variety of humans and anthropomorphized characters within the Pop NFT universe.

 is essentially a membership program that provides benefits to early adopters of Pop Social. The idea is that people can mint a Pop Pilot Pass as proof they were part of Pop before it acquired 1 billion users. Having the pass lets people sign up for raffles and receive access to exclusive prizes.

Pop Social began its web3 social media adventure in 2022 with projects meant to build engagement, interest and a vibrant community. Simultaneously, they began to create much of the underlying technology for the basic Pop DApp. The Pop Social beta was first launched in late 2022. After taking more feedback from users, Pop then launched Pop 2.0 in mid-2023.

Pop's plans for the future focus mainly on refining its technology. They plan on adding algorithms to help recommend influencers and boost audiences, and in 2024, Pop Labs wants to launch an AI studio that helps creators optimize their campaigns and content. By 2025, Pop hopes to create an interoperable platform on which developers can build additional projects that work with digital assets in the Pop Ecosystem.

Pop’s native token, PPT, is used as the base mechanism behind most of the Pop Social features. PPT is earned based on user engagement, and can be spent to buy other digital assets on Pop. It’s defined as a multi-utility token that can be used to mint NFTs, tip content creators, buy items on the marketplace and vote in the community-run governance system.

The Pop token has only recently been available on exchanges. With so little pricing data available, it's hard to tell exactly where the coin's price will head. In the first few rounds of private community sales, 

 $0.19 per token. As of Oct 27, 2023, PPT is retailing for around $0.24 per token, which indicates that there’s quite a bit of interest in PPT. Prices have increased by roughly 20% since the tokens were first sold. If this pricing trend continues, there’s a chance that PPT’s price could quickly move higher. However, it’s common for new crypto prices to spike sharply before falling just as rapidly. If Pop Social fails to capitalize on momentum and gain more users, PPT's price could fall back to $0.20 or even lower.

Looking to trade PPT tokens? Bybit now offers the PPT/USDT Spot trading pair. To get started, you’ll need to first create a Bybit account and fund it with cryptocurrency before navigating to the 

In celebration of this listing, Bybit is holding 

 in which you can earn a share of the 50,000 USDT prize pool. 

 event is exclusively for new users who complete the following two steps between Oct 24, 2023, 10AM UTC and Nov 7, 2023, 11:59PM UTC:

Please note that rewards will be distributed on a first come, first served basis.

event is for all users, and takes place between Oct 24, 2023, 10AM UTC and Nov 7, 2023, 11:59PM UTC. Simply accumulate a Spot trading volume of at least 200 USDT worth of PPT. Please 

 that rewards are capped at 10 USDT per person.

PPT certainly holds some promise. It's a new crypto that's attracted positive buzz and already managed to increase its value quite a bit. The project that created PPT has been carefully planned and includes a lot of in-demand features. Investors who are on the lookout for the next up-and-coming crypto may enjoy PPT.

However, Pop Social has many potential competitors. There's a huge market for web3 social media right now, and having a streamlined DApp and self-sustaining token system might not be enough to help distinguish Pop Social from the rest of the social platforms. If the site fails to achieve all of its other plans, PPT crypto may fall flat. Investors who want to work with PPT will benefit from exercising caution and not being overly optimistic.

Pop Social hopes to create a uniquely engaging web3 social media platform. With a variety of products and programs and an effective approach to handling crypto tokens, the Pop platform has a lot to offer. However, just like other social platforms, Pop Social can only succeed if it pulls in a lot of dedicated users. Only time will tell whether this site can drive up user engagement and increase the price of the Pop NFT Collection and PPT token.

Pop Social (PPT): Web3 Integration for Modern Social Media

Grab Up to 5,000 USDT in Rewards

Grab Up to 5,000 USDT in Rewards