Jan 20, 2025: Our weekly Institutional Insights explores the latest market developments — market performance, industry news, exchange-traded fund (ETF) flows, trending topics, upcoming events and token unlocks — to help you supercharge your crypto trading.

 explores the latest market developments — market performance, industry news, exchange-traded fund (ETF) flows, trending topics, upcoming events and token unlocks — to help you supercharge your crypto trading.

Weekly Highlight — Cooling CPI Relieves Market

Recent data indicated a stagnation or potential reversal in inflation progress, with a key measure of underlying price hikes — the core Consumer Price Index (CPI) — remaining unchanged for months. However, this trend shifted on Wednesday, as the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a slowdown in the core CPI for the first time in months.

The CPI, which tracks price changes for commonly purchased goods and services, showed an overall increase of 0.4% from November 2024, lifting the annual rate to 2.9%. This rise was primarily driven by surging gas and food prices, with energy costs alone contributing to 40% of the monthly increase. Food prices also remained high, impacted by weather conditions and disease affecting key staples like meat and eggs.

Excluding volatility for food and energy prices, the core CPI only rose 0.2% from November, easing to 3.2% after being stuck at 3.3% since September 2024. Market reactions were positive, as traders hoped the Federal Reserve would continue its rate-cutting campaign.

While inflation has slowed since peaking at 9.1% in June 2022, the journey back to normalcy has been bumpy. Everyday item prices are now 21% higher than in 2021, straining household budgets, particularly for lower-income Americans. Though wages have risen faster than inflation over the past 20 months, they still lag behind pre-pandemic levels.

This latest CPI report, the last before President Biden transitions power to president-elect Trump, underscores the ongoing challenges in managing inflation, particularly for essential goods and services.

Weekly Crypto Highlight — Crypto Cases Drop Before Trump’s Inauguration

Digital Currency Group and its subsidiary, Genesis Global Capital, reached a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday, indicative of a broader trend among cryptocurrency firms resolving regulatory issues as the Biden administration approaches its conclusion. Over the past week, multiple U.S. regulatory agencies — including the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the Justice Department and the SEC — have announced various settlements and charges across at least six cases involving digital assets, signaling a renewed focus on enforcement as the administration winds down.

During Biden's term, more than 100 enforcement actions were filed against crypto companies, reflecting heightened scrutiny of the industry. However, with president-elect Donald Trump set to take office, there’s an expectation of a paradigm shift in regulatory approaches. Trump, once a critic of cryptocurrencies, has appointed crypto-friendly officials to key positions and intends to prioritize legislation that supports the industry.

For many crypto firms, settling with regulators is seen as a strategic move. Legal experts note that such settlements allow these companies to close contentious chapters and redirect their efforts in a potentially more favorable regulatory environment. Jonathan Groth, a partner at DGIM Law, commented on the implications of the incoming administration, suggesting that support for extensive enforcement actions may diminish.

Recent high-profile cases include a $5 million fine against Gemini for regulatory violations and a $100 million penalty for BitMEX due to failures in 

 measures. Additional actions have targeted fraudulent schemes, and individuals involved in illegal cryptocurrency activities. As the regulatory landscape shifts, firms settling with agencies may be positioning themselves for a fresh start under a more accommodating regime.

Advanced

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Weekly Institutional Insights: Cooling CPI Relieves Market; Bitcoin Regains $100K Ahead of Trump’s Inauguration

Dive into HeyAnon, an innovative protocol launched by experienced DeFi builder Daniele Sesta, and merging DeFi interactions with AI agents.

 (DeFi) protocol designed to simplify DeFi interactions. By integrating conversational artificial intelligence (AI) with real-time data aggregation, HeyAnon empowers users to manage DeFi operations seamlessly. From 

 to tracking project updates and analyzing trends, HeyAnon combines natural language processing and actionable insights to redefine the DeFi user experience.

This article explores the emergence of DeFAI (DeFi + AI), HeyAnon’s groundbreaking features and its role in shaping the future of DeFi.

DeFAI is the birth child of DeFi and AI. It represents a groundbreaking evolution in blockchain technology, whereby AI agents are integrated into DeFi. This emerging sector goes beyond traditional AI applications, focusing on automating on-chain activities through autonomous trading agents, abstraction layers and AI-driven DApps.

The term gained traction during the rise of the AI agent meta, beginning with projects like 

 (GOAT), an innovation born from Andy Ayrey’s Truth Terminal experiment. 

This movement has spurred the creation of numerous AI agents and frameworks, eventually pushing the AI agent market to a peak 

 (as of Jan 15, 2025). Despite its overlap with AI agent concepts, DeFAI has carved out a distinct niche valued at $1 billion, emphasizing deeper blockchain integration. 

Unlike early AI agents, which primarily operated as bots posting on social media with limited on-chain utility, DeFAI agents can participate in blockchain activities. This shift indicates the prioritization of tangible applications, such as automated trading, staking and 

 is an AI agent network built to simplify DeFi interactions while providing users with unparalleled access to real-time information. By combining conversational AI with robust data aggregation capabilities, HeyAnon creates a seamless interface for managing DeFi operations.

Designed with user experience in mind, HeyAnon leverages natural language processing (NLP) to allow users to execute complex DeFi tasks through simple conversations. From automating bridging, swapping, staking and borrowing to monitoring market trends, HeyAnon streamlines operations that typically require advanced technical knowledge.

HeyAnon’s strength lies in its ability to aggregate data from diverse sources, such as X (Twitter), Telegram, Discord, GitHub and GitBook. It provides insights into project updates, community sentiment, development activity and price fluctuations, enabling users to make informed decisions with ease.

Essentially, HeyAnon aims to bridge the gap between technical complexity and user accessibility, improving the way we experience DeFi.

, a renowned figure in DeFi and the crypto market. Sesta is widely recognized for his past projects, including Wonderland (TIME), a decentralized reserve currency protocol that made waves during the DeFi 2.0 era.

HeyAnon empowers users to streamline their DeFi experience with the following features, while remaining informed, efficient and in control.

By leveraging advanced natural language processing (NLP), HeyAnon enables conversational interactions for managing DeFi operations. Users can perform tasks such as staking, swapping tokens or borrowing simply by engaging in a natural conversation with the platform. This intuitive interface eliminates the steep learning curve often associated with DeFi, making it accessible to both newcomers and seasoned users.

HeyAnon excels at consolidating real-time data from diverse sources, including X (Twitter), Telegram, Discord, GitHub and GitBook. By aggregating project updates, community sentiment, development activity and market data, HeyAnon provides users with actionable insights at a glance. For instance, it can monitor GitHub commits or X (Twitter) sentiment to keep users informed about a project’s health and progress.

Automation lies at the core of HeyAnon’s utility, simplifying the following complex DeFi tasks.

, in which several innovative projects are also making their mark. Following is an overview of some key players.

 is a prominent competitor that focuses on leveraging AI to simplify on-chain interactions.

 specializes in providing crypto market intelligence and automating the process of tracking market trends and interpreting data. 

 is an AI agent that aims to transform the way users interact with DeFi. It’s developed by 

, a company that builds infrastructure merging AI and blockchain capabilities. Orbit is available on over 100 blockchains, including Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana, and across thousands of DeFi protocols.

The ANON token is central to HeyAnon’s ecosystem, serving governance, community benefits and treasury purposes. As the governance token for the Anon DAO, ANON grants holders voting rights to shape HeyAnon’s development, influence agent skills and determine platform features. Holders enjoy free and/or discounted AI agent services, and can actively participate in shaping the project's road map and priorities.

, ensuring transparent fund use within the DAO’s treasury. Further details can be found in 

HeyAnon is one of the most promising projects in the emerging DeFAI market, combining advanced AI capabilities with actual utility. Its innovative features — automation, cross-chain interactions and data aggregation — could position it as a leader in DeFi and AI innovation.

With a strong team and an experienced DeFi founder in Daniele Sesta, HeyAnon’s road map is set to drive community-led development and enhanced DeFi solutions.

Intermediate

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HeyAnon (ANON): Daniele Sesta’s New DeFAI Platform

Swiss bank PostFinance has partnered with Sygnum to launch Ethereum staking, allowing customers to earn passive income via Ethereum blockchain integration into its e-finance platform.

Daily Top Performer — Morpho Protocol (MORPHO)

The S&P 500 dropped 0.21%, ending a three-day rise, with tech losses offset by gains in utilities, real estate, and industrials. Gold prices rose above $2,700, driven by weak US retail sales, rising jobless claims, and dovish comments from Fed Governor Waller, which fueled expectations of rate cuts. Falling bond yields further supported the uptrend, with gold targeting $2,750. Coindesk Indices, an index measuring broader cryptocurrency market performance was up by 2.10%, with Bitcoin rising by 0.69% and Ether dropping by 3.34%, 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 MORPHO, which surged nearly 37.1% following the launch of Coinbase's seamless crypto-backed loans powered by Morpho infrastructure.

Morpho Protocol (MORPHO), founded in 2021, is a decentralized Ethereum-based lending platform with a P2P order matching system. It offers customizable markets and Morpho Vaults for various risk levels. Initially launched in 2022 for Aave and Compound, it introduced Morpho Blue in 2024 for flexible lending. Morpho Labs continues to develop Morpho while supporting the original Morpho Optimizers. 

, allowing users to borrow USDC against BTC via the Coinbase app. The product offers competitive rates, flexible terms, and a seamless experience. This move highlights the growing use of Morpho's infrastructure for onchain finance, with more institutions expected to follow suit.

Check Out the Latest Prices, Charts, and Data of 

 with Sygnum to launch Ethereum staking, allowing customers to earn passive income via Ethereum blockchain integration into its e-finance platform. Customers can start staking with a minimum deposit of 0.1 ETH, and rewards will be displayed alongside other crypto assets. The service is currently limited to Ethereum, with plans to expand to other cryptocurrencies in the future.

Yesterday, Bitcoin spot ETF flows totaled $98.2M, driven by $168.2M inflows from non-GBTC products, offset by a $70M outflow from GBTC.

. Wave 1 eligibility is now live, limited to specific Quai Discord roles, with more waves to follow. NFT holders might qualify for allocations, though it's not yet confirmed.

Beginner

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PostFinance Launches Ethereum Staking for Passive Income on E-Finance Platform

Top Hat is an AI-based token launchpad built on the Solana blockchain. Learn about how this project works in this article.

There’s currently a huge demand for token launchpads that allow everyday consumers to create their own 

 plans to meet this demand by pairing classic launchpad design with artificial intelligence (AI) technology. This exciting new product has the potential to make token creation more accessible and convenient than ever. If you're interested in learning more about Top Hat's design, check out this helpful guide.

Top Hat is an AI-based token launchpad built on the 

 blockchain. This user-friendly system requires no coding ability, and allows people to create personalized tokens and 

Not much is known about the team behind Top Hat. The project is a fairly new one, having just started in October 2024 and being made available to the public the next month. As of January 2025, its creators haven’t announced their identities. Instead, all of the communication from the Top Hat team 

 a Twitter/X account. Though this account hasn't revealed much about the creators' motivations or experience, it has disclosed that its team is focused on promoting AI and making Solana development fun and accessible.

Top Hat's goal is to provide the most user-friendly and low-effort experience possible. There’s a huge demand for launchpads, but many companies struggle to create one that can handle all of their potential users. By incorporating AI design, Top Hat hopes to reduce the burden of running a launchpad.

Top Hat’s other primary goal is to create a convenient space for people designing new cryptocurrencies and AI agents. Traditional web3 launches often require users to have advanced technical knowledge — such as the ability to code. Top Hat does away with such requirements, and instead guides users through a convenient interface. AI prompts, simple wording and clear menus make it much easier for the average person to create their own Solana-based token.

Top Hat runs on a Solana base integrated with Telegram, X and other social media sites. Solana is used to manage the cryptocurrency side of the website, generate tokens and keep track of individual transactions. 

Meanwhile, generative AI is used to create social media posts for each AI agent. This allows users' agents to develop their own personalities and socialize with each other. To guide users through the process of making AI agents, Top Hat employs the following mechanisms.

The manual build process allows people to create a customized, blockchain-based AI character. Simply link a Solana wallet, and follow the prompts from Top Hat as it asks for details about your desired personality, culture and goals for your character. A manual build also lets you create a new token and specify details such as token supply.

For those with a less defined concept, Top Hat also features a 

 setting. A user simply inputs their token contract address, and Top Hat's AI system will fill in all the details of the character for them. This can be useful for those who want to work with an AI agent but don't want to spend time designing the agent themselves.

Top Hat's creation options also include the ability to clone a public personality. Instead of defining a character themselves, users can simply enter the X account of a person, and the AI launchpad design will analyze and mimic that person's account. 

In just a few months, Top Hat has launched the public version of its site and acquired over 2,000 users. In 2025, Top Hat hopes to capitalize on its success by launching 

. This new and improved version of the site will include a full rebrand and more features for users to try out:

The HAT token plays a critical role in the Top Hat ecosystem. It's currently the native token for the site. Top Hat plans to add additional utilities in the future, such as fee payments and/or voting usage. The HAT token is 

, and the project’s owners plan to use the resulting revenue to buy back and burn 

There’s a maximum supply of 1 billion HAT tokens and a current total/circulating supply of just under 990 million. Because HAT is meant to be as accessible as possible, it features no predetermined distribution. Instead, anyone who wishes to acquire HAT can buy it directly from the market.

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

The Top Hat project is an exciting look at how crypto, AI and web3 technologies can be combined. It's grown rapidly, and has already acquired many users. This optimistic outlook is supported by HAT’s performance. Since its debut, its price has primarily stayed in the $0.05 to $0.10 range. There have been some notable price spikes, and a steady price increase that indicates opportunities for investors to profit. 

HAT certainly has some positive qualities, but keep in mind that this product is lacking in a lot of detail. Without knowing much about the team, or having a clearly defined idea of how the project’s technology runs, it's hard to say whether Top Hat is set up for long-term success. Therefore, it's a somewhat risky investment that investors need to approach cautiously. For best results, HAT should only be a small part of a diverse portfolio. Always 

 carefully before buying cryptocurrencies.

Through the power of AI, Top Hat makes it quick and easy to design custom, blockchain-based agents. These characters are capable of engaging with others on social media and managing complex plot lines. Thus, they have numerous applications for entertainment and meme coins. While Top Hat is still a new project that needs to fully prove its utility, it's already done a great job of appealing to a select group of web3 AI enthusiasts.

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Top Hat (HAT): Solana's First No-Code AI Agent Launchpad

Altcoins

DeFi

stETH is a liquid staking derivatives token representing staked Ether on Lido (LDO) that allows the token holder to participate in DeFi while accruing staking rewards from Ethereum.

lido-steth-staking-flow.png

 finally completed its transition in the 

) in September 2022. Despite the transition, users were still unable to unstake their ETH. This would only be made possible during the 

 that is expected to launch in March 2023. Of course, while the issue of illiquidity will be solved, staking on Ethereum is still a complex and expensive process. For instance, to help secure the Ethereum network, one has to lock at least 32 ETH up, which is quite a huge amount to leave lying around.

To provide a solution to the staking dilemma on Ethereum 2.0, Lido, a 

 solution, has built a platform that allows participants to lock any amount of ETH on the platform while retaining the liquidity of ETH through its token, stETH.  

stETH is a liquid staking derivatives token used to represent staked Ether on 

 (LDO) that allows the token holder to participate in various ecosystems in the 

 niche while still accruing staking rewards from the Ethereum 

Basically, for every ETH you stake on Lido, you receive one stETH. You can use stETH in a similar way as regular ETH due to its DeFi compatibility with platforms such as 

. You can sell it, spend it or even use it as collateral in 

. Further, you can use stETH to redeem your staked ETH once withdrawals are made possible with the completion of the Shanghai upgrade. 

 function. The stETH token balances are updated daily at 12PM UTC based on an oracle report on changes in the total staked ETH. Once a user stakes their ETH with Lido, they begin to receive daily rewards starting from the first day of staking. This is possible because Lido applies a socialized staking mechanism where the rebases affect all the stakers regardless of whether their ETH has been deposited into the queue. 

Since the rewards are pinned on the balance rebase, stETH token holders will only see an automatic change in their wallet balance without an accompanying transaction.

The rebase mechanics of stETH work across various DeFi platforms which implies if you spread stETH and stake it in these protocols, you’ll receive additional rewards.

You’ll realize that the stETH staking rewards are lower than those of the Ethereum Beacon Chain. This difference arises because there’s a queue from which all stETH holders are accruing rewards and only a handful of Lido validators have usually made it through the queue at the end of each day.

As a result, the reward rate is lower since the total rewards accrued from the handful of already accepted validators are split proportionally among all the ETH holders. However, the stETH reward rate will grow over time to correspond to that of the full ETH staking rate as more of Lido’s validators are activated. 

As a community-governed platform, Lido’s structure consists of a staking pool (complete with node operators, oracles and rewards), an insurance fund that stores stETH, and an 

. Lido charges a 10% fee from the staking rewards which are distributed between the DAO platform, node operators and the insurance fund.

stETH is a tokenized version of ETH staked on Lido. As such, it can be used in a similar way as ETH, especially in the DeFi ecosystem. stETH can be integrated into the following use cases:

 is critical in DeFi where automated market makers (

) facilitate the seamless exchange of tokens. Lido has partnered with various DeFi liquidity pool providers such as Curve, 

 to create utility for the stETH tokens. 

In general, liquidity providers are incentivized to provide liquidity to the liquidity pools through receiving pool trading fees and rewards in the form of LDO tokens and the native token of the DeFi protocol. 

Some DeFi platforms like SushiSwap and Bancor require you to wrap your stETH tokens into wstETH before depositing them into the liquidity mining pool. The wstETH tokens are non-rebasing and will not reflect daily changing rewards until you unwrap them.

Another use case for stETH tokens is by yield aggregators which can integrate them as an additional layer of rewards to the already existing 

 use strategies to compound and maximize rewards for users by spreading their assets across multiple DeFi platforms such as Curve and SushiSwap.

stETH has also been integrated as a collateral asset on Aave, a crypto lending platform. Through Aave, stETH holders can use their tokens as lending collateral and still retain their Ethereum staking rewards while earning daily collateral rewards. In fact, stETH holders can effectively borrow ETH against their collateralized stETH and restake the ETH for more stETH.

Another platform where users can utilize their stETH is 

 which is powered by Anchor, a money-market protocol that allows the lending and borrowing of assets by issuing synthetic tokens. Note that Inverse Finance’s Anchor is different from Terra/Luna’s 

Lido provides ETH holders the opportunity to stake their ETH through stETH and earn passive income. Post Ethereum Merge, stETH remains valuable for the following reasons: 

How Ethereum Shanghai Upgrade Affects stETH

The much-awaited Ethereum Shanghai upgrade is expected to happen in March 2023. Following the upgrade, withdrawals will be enabled on the ETH staking contract which will significantly reduce the current risk associated with staking ETH. But what might possibly happen to stETH with this upgrade?

Even with the upgrade, there is a possibility for the demand for liquid staking to remain. This is because liquid representations of ETH such as stETH allow for quick entry and exit of positions in the market as compared to actual staked ETH. Further, as staking on Ethereum remains costly and difficult, stETH continues to act as an ideal alternative for most users as opposed to staking directly on the Beacon Chain after the Shanghai upgrade.

Additionally, those who are bullish on Ethereum may view stETH as an 

 opportunity considering the price disparity between the two. However, trying to catch such opportunities will require a significant amount of patience.

So far, Lido has caught the attention of the crypto community and is among the leading providers of Ethereum liquid staking solutions in the market. stETH tokens provide an innovative approach to staking which contributes to decentralization and security on Ethereum and give ETH holders full control over their staked ETH.

Further, Lido is working on providing a fully permissionless and trustless staking solution. When implemented, the model will add to the critical role stETH plays in the growth of the DeFi ecosystem. It will ensure that staking on Ethereum is fully decentralized unlike staking on centralized exchanges which threatens Ethereum’s goal of decentralization. 

Back in June 2022, there had been escalating worries about 

. Investors feared that there would be a liquidity crisis with the widening gap in stETH and ETH’s value. Actually, as Lido’s stETH is backed 1:1 with staked ETH, it will not negatively affect ETH’s value. The exchange rate only reflects the secondary market price rather than the actual value of stETH as you will be able to redeem an equal amount of ETH that you staked once transactions are available on Ethereum. This is because Lido is not a 

, so it will not cause a similar case of the 

 TerraUSD de-pegging against the U.S. dollar that led to a crash of its sister token Luna.

The main function of stETH is to decentralize staking on Ethereum and solve the illiquidity in the Beacon Chain, which it seems to be effectively working toward thus far. Therefore, we feel that Lido stETH is a good investment due to its value proposition to DeFi's ecosystem and its ability to solve various staking limitations on Ethereum. Note that this is not financial advice, however, and you should always do your research before 

stETH is available for trading on leading cryptocurrency exchanges. You can buy stETH as a Spot Trading pair (

) on Bybit. You’ll need to sign up on Bybit and fund your account with USDT upon verification. Thereafter, proceed to the Bybit Spot Trading platform to place your order.

Lido, through the provision of stETH, has been instrumental in creating liquidity for Ethereum after the Merge. As a liquid staking solution, Lido's stETH makes staked ETH liquid as Lido ETH stakers can participate in yield farming and even provide collateral on crypto lending protocols with stETH. Even with the Ethereum Shanghai upgrade, stETH will remain a key player in decentralizing and securing Ethereum thanks to its low barriers of entry which allows even users with low capital to stake their ETH.

Lido Staked ETH (stETH): All You Need To Know

Grab Up to 5,000 USDT in Rewards

Grab Up to 5,000 USDT in Rewards