Apr 21, 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 — Trump wants to fire Powell? 

US president Donald Trump is actively considering firing Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, following Trump's public criticism of Powell for not moving quickly enough to reduce interest rates. National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett confirmed that the administration is examining this option, suggesting that Powell's actions have politically favored Democrats. Hassett argued that the Federal Reserve's decision to raise interest rates shortly after Trump took office was intended to undermine the economic impact of the tax cuts implemented during his administration, which were deemed inflationary. He further criticized the Fed for not addressing inflation concerns stemming from federal spending under President Biden, implying a lack of accountability.

During a recent press conference, Trump conveyed his dissatisfaction with Powell, asserting that if he wanted to remove him, it could happen "real fast." While he did not explicitly state his intention to dismiss Powell, his remarks highlighted the growing tensions between the White House and the Federal Reserve regarding monetary policy. Hassett defended Trump's frustrations, advocating for a focus on economic policy rather than interpersonal conflicts. This situation underscores the complex dynamics between the executive branch and the central bank, as Trump navigates economic challenges leading up to the next election.

Weekly crypto highlight — XRP ETF coming

HashKey Capital has officially launched the HashKey XRP Tracker Fund, marking the first investment fund in Asia designed specifically to track the performance of XRP, the digital asset integral to Ripple's global payment ecosystem. This fund is aimed at professional investors and offers a unique opportunity to gain exposure to XRP without the complexities of direct asset management. Investors can subscribe through cash and in-kind options, with the fund providing monthly liquidity.

Ripple, as an early backer of the fund, is looking to enhance its strategic partnership with HashKey Capital, which already manages Hong Kong–listed spot ETFs for Bitcoin and Ethereum. This collaboration not only solidifies Ripple's presence in the Asian market, but also opens avenues for future financial products, such as the potential tokenization of a money market fund on the XRP Ledger. Fiona Murray, Ripple's Managing Director for the Asia-Pacific region, highlighted that this partnership is part of a broader strategy to introduce more regulated cryptocurrency products for institutional investors in the region, aiming to foster a more robust crypto landscape in Asia.

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Weekly Institutional Insights: Trump’s desire to fire Powell might induce volatility; XRP ETF coming

Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has approved a new Ethereum ETF with staking capabilities, allowing institutional investors to earn staking rewards.

Daily top performer — Pyth Network (PYTH)

The S&P 500 dropped 1.5% to 5,282.70 this week, down 5.9% in April and 10% year-to-date, led by tech losses. Real estate and energy outperformed, while political pressure on Fed Chair Powell and inflation concerns weighed on sentiment. Gold dipped 0.6% to $3,319 after a record high, as Powell’s stagflation warning tempered its rally. Despite the pullback, the uptrend remains intact. The Coindesk Indices, which tracks the broader crypto market, are up by 0.77%, with Bitcoin and Ether rising 0.64% and 0.72%, respectively, over the past 24 hours. Trade these markets and more with up to 500x leverage on Bybit MT5 using this 

Today's top performer is PYTH, up 10.1%, following the launch of Pyth Entropy for secure on-chain random number generation by Soneium.

Pyth Network (PYTH),  is a blockchain oracle system that delivers real-time crypto price data to blockchains, enabling smart contracts to react to market changes. Soneium 

 Pyth Entropy, a tool for securely generating random numbers on-chain. Two apps, HandsNFT AI and 2p2e, are already utilizing Pyth Entropy to create unpredictable and engaging experiences.

Check out the latest prices, charts, and data of 

Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has approved a new Ethereum ETF with staking capabilities, allowing institutional investors to earn staking rewards. This approval follows recent changes to local laws, with China Asset Management (ChinaAMC) partnering with OSL Digital Securities to launch the ETF by May 15. The ETF will offer exposure to Ethereum staking, transforming it from a passive investment into an active participant in the Ethereum network. The staking process is powered by Kiln, with OSL providing custody and insurance services. The rewards will contribute to the ETF's net asset value, benefiting shareholders.

Yesterday, Bitcoin spot ETFs saw $25.9M in inflows, all from non-GBTC funds, while GBTC recorded no flow.

" and a points campaign called Drops, where users can earn points—potentially leading to an airdrop—by engaging with Linera content on X. To join, sign up on 

, complete tasks like joining Discord and interacting on X, then enter the campaign. Keep engaging to earn more points, but avoid spamming.

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Hong Kong approves Ethereum ETF with staking rewards, boosting institutional participation

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.

US president Donald Trump’s tariff policies are influencing both crypto and US equities. Last week, BTC and the S&P 500 rallied due to a 90-day pause in reciprocal tariffs (excluding China). Equities are slightly below their April 9 highs, while BTC is holding above $83K. Its implied volatility term structure has normalized, and the volatility skew has improved from last week’s bias toward out-of-the-money puts, though it hasn't fully shifted toward calls.

Please check out the report’s highlights.

Tariff pause briefly brings back trading volume

Since our last report, open interest surged on Apr 9, 2025, as crypto spot prices rose after President Trump’s temporary tariff pause, accompanied by a nearly $10B increase in trade volumes. However, trade volumes have since returned to mid-March levels, and open interest has declined from the April 9 highs. The initial price spike indicates the tariff pause surprised the markets, but the subsequent pullback reflects concerns over remaining tariffs.

After being inverted for much of April due to trade policy shocks and macro headwinds, BTC’s term structure has disinverted, with front-end volatility dropping significantly this week. Call and put volumes have been balanced, with calls slightly exceeding puts most days. Apr 9, 2025, reflected mixed market sentiment, as both call and put volumes rose, but puts were higher overall. Open interest remains greater in calls, and has increased slightly since last week, reaching its highest level for the month (more than double from the beginning of April).

Despite a rally on Apr 9, 2025 that brought ETH close to $1.7K, traders sought downside protection, leading to higher volumes in put contracts as compared to calls. Since then, ETHUSDT options volumes have declined, but open interest remains strongly weighted toward calls with later expirations, which have increased since last week. After being inverted for much of April, ETH’s term structure of volatility has flattened, with volatility compressing around the 70% mark across tenors.

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Bybit X Block Scholes crypto derivatives analytics report (Apr 16, 2025): Bitcoin put bias has moderated, but not yet shifted to calls

KiloEx (KILO) is a user-friendly DEX for perpetuals trading, offering high leverage, rewards, LSTfi integration and a robust multi-chain ecosystem.

 trading is one of the most lucrative areas for cryptocurrency enthusiasts if you know how to navigate the sometimes complex world of these contracts. Unlike standard futures, perpetual futures contracts have no expiration date, allowing traders to hold onto their positions as long as they prefer. You only exit a crypto perpetual (or “perp”) contract when you feel it’s the best time to execute your long or short trade. The lack of an expiration period makes these contracts attractive for traders.

Unfortunately, many crypto perpetual contract trading platforms are far from user-friendly. It seems like many perpetual crypto exchanges assume that only professional traders dabble in these contracts, and along with that assumption goes a second one — that these pros can navigate even the most complex user interfaces. As a result, finding a user-friendly perps platform is a challenge in the world of crypto trading.

 (DEX) that aims to change the status quo by providing a user-friendly environment for traders. Its platform also offers high leverage ratios, integration into the wider liquid staking token finance (LSTfi) ecosystem and generous reward programs for referrers and affiliates.

Thanks to its numerous benefits, this DEX caters to the needs of traders at all levels of expertise who are interested in crypto perpetuals. Operational since mid-2023, KiloEx launched its native token, KILO, in March 2025 to further enhance its platform's reward, staking and governance mechanisms.

 (BNB) that specializes in crypto perpetual futures trading.

 The platform prides itself on offering a user-friendly interface, high 

 ratios of up to 100x, multi-token vaults with generous APYs and a number of reward programs for referrers and affiliates.

Co-founded by Joey Ni (CEO) and Charles Gong (COO), KiloEx was originally launched on BNB Chain's mainnet in June 2023. As of mid-April 2025, the platform has additionally expanded its service coverage to five 

 (B2). This coverage allows KiloEx to access the ecosystems of three leading blockchain platforms — 

Manta, Base and Taiko are Ethereum-focused Layer 2 solutions, while opBNB is an efficient and low-cost optimistic rollup for the BNB Chain, while B

 is a platform linked to Bitcoin that acts as a major Bitcoin DeFi (BTCFi) enabler.

Because it’s a BNB-native platform, KiloEx's industry footprint is most notable within this blockchain's broader ecosystem. In fact, as Apr 17, 2025, KiloEx is the top DEX on the opBNB network by 

Using Layer 2 chains allows KiloEx to offer its users fast and low-cost transactions, which isn't always possible on a typical Layer 1 network. It's true that BNB Chain, the primary Layer 1 used by KiloEx, generally has much lower gas fees than Ethereum, the industry's leading 

 chain that’s notorious for its exorbitant costs. However, KiloEx's partner Layer 2 networks help drive costs and transaction times even lower. BNB Chain's current average gas fee is slightly over $0.10, while the opBNB Layer 2 rollup's comparable fee is only about $0.005.

In 2024, the platform introduced one of its most innovative features — the 

, which allows liquidity providers to stake multiple assets to earn high yields. That same year, KiloEx significantly expanded its partnership network, becoming an active player in the LSTFi ecosystem. LSTFi is a new stream within the DeFi industry that allows you to use 

 (LSTs) on various protocols for additional yield.

Having solidified its market presence in 2024, the project launched its native token, KILO, in March 2025. However, in mid-April 2025, KiloEx 

 and halted trading on April 15 as a risk management measure, pending investigation of the damage.

The Hybrid Vault is among the most innovative features offered by KiloEx. Essentially, it acts similarly to liquidity pools on other exchanges. Liquidity providers can contribute their crypto funds to the vault to support trading activity on the DEX and earn interest on their contributions, based on the fees earned by the protocol.

You can contribute a mix of coins to a KiloEx vault. Supported assets include 

Depending upon trading activity and the mix of coins contributed, you can earn APYs as high as 30%, making KiloEx one of the most lucrative choices for liquidity providers in this niche.

KiloEx uses a health factor calculation for this type of vault to keep your funds and the entire ecosystem safe. Based on the health factor score of your contribution to the vault, your funds could be liquidated if their value drops dangerously low.

Discounts are also offered for fixed-term deposits for established assets, such as USDT and USDC. Withdrawals for the fixed deposits are processed upon maturity, while all other withdrawals are processed within one to three "epochs," with each epoch on the platform lasting about three days. Thus, depending upon your contributed funds, you’ll wait anywhere from three to nine days to receive your crypto back.

The KiloEx platform also runs a generous referral program under which you can earn rewards for referring your friends to the platform. The amount you earn depends upon the trading volumes generated by the people whom you’ve referred. Additionally, your referees to the DEX can also benefit from fee rebates, again depending upon the volume of trade they generate.

There’s a tiered system, comprising nine levels, based on which you and your friends earn commissions and rebates. Under this system, even those referred traders whose monthly volume is at the lowest level (below $5,000) can still benefit from 5% rebates, while you also earn a 10% commission.

The table below shows the structure of this referral system with percentages for commission and rebates based on monthly trading volumes.

KiloEx offers an affiliate program for key opinion leaders (KOLs) with a certain level of social media following and influence in the crypto market. KOLs may apply to join the program by filling out an application, which is then considered by the project team within 48 hours.

To qualify for affiliate status, a KOL must have: 

Approved affiliates are provided a link to the platform, and are encouraged to invite their followers to trade on the KiloEx. If they invite at least five followers who trade at sufficient levels, the affiliates can start earning their commission. KOLs can earn up to 55% commission, depending upon the referred followers' trading activity.

KiloEx’s native utility token, KILO, is a 

 asset launched on BNB Chain. It’s used on the platform for governance, fee discounts on trades, rewards via 

, liquidity provision incentives and staking.

KILO is a supply-capped asset, with a maximum and total supply of 1 billion. The token’s supply allocation shares are shown in the chart below.

xKILO is an escrowed version of the KILO token. You can convert KILO to xKILO at a fixed rate of 1:1. The primary utility of xKILO is to provide boosted liquidity provision, which makes it possible to receive staking rewards. By locking xKILO on the platform, you can access special discounts and other benefits reserved for VIP-level users. Holding xKILO also grants you governance power to vote and influence the platform's future direction.

Unlike KILO, xKILO is nontransferable and isn’t tradable on the secondary market. The only ways to obtain xKILO are either to buy it with KILO or receive it via airdrops.

Platform users can earn points to qualify for KILO airdrops. Typically, you accumulate points by trading, depositing funds, referring others to the DEX, checking in to the platform and completing other specified eligible activities.

The project’s initial airdrop, Genesis Season, had an eligibility snapshot taken back in July 2024. Under the currently running airdrop campaign, Pioneer Season, users can earn points to receive KILO tokens for 180 days past the token generation event (TGE) in late March 2025 (i.e., until late September 2025).

Additionally, you can earn KILO tokens on Bybit simply by participating in the 

 event and holding BNB in your account. Every day at various random times, Bybit will take snapshots of your BNB holdings in your Funding and Unified Trading Accounts to calculate the number of KILO tokens you’re eligible for. The campaign will run through Apr 25, 2025, 11:59PM UTC, and you’ll have your share of KILO airdropped seven days after this date.

 market as a swap pair with USDT. If you don't have a Bybit account, you can easily 

, and access opportunities across hundreds of trading pairs and crypto products on the exchange's Spot and Derivatives markets.

As of Apr 17, 2025, the KILO token is trading at $0.039, which is 76.2% lower than its ATH of $0.1648 on Mar 27, 2025, and 17.3% higher than its ATL of $0.03344 on Apr 12, 2025.

Long-term price forecasts for KILO are mostly bullish. CoinCodex 

 at $0.0387 in 2027 and then rise to $0.135 in 2030 while PricePredictions 

When it comes to perpetuals trading, both traditional 

 (CEXs) and DEXs have often struggled to offer an intuitive trading experience. In contrast, KiloEx has made user-friendliness a cornerstone of its operations. With KiloEx, you can enjoy a streamlined trading process, access market trends info for thorough research, get an overview of the cryptocurrency market and conduct other activities via an interface that’s designed for anyone, irrespective of their familiarity with decentralized trading.

The platform also boasts a diverse range of other benefits not easily found in the world of perpetuals-based cryptocurrency trading — generous leveraged trading options, trading fee discounts, lightning-fast trades, low trading fees and an innovative Hybrid Vault system. Many of these benefits are thanks to KiloEx's collaboration with several Layer 2 decentralized platforms, which provide the technical infrastructure to enable low costs and fast order processing.

If you’re a crypto perpetuals enthusiast, KiloEx is definitely a platform to peruse.

Intermediate

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KiloEx (KILO): More than a DEX — a rewarding ecosystem

Bybit Learn

Bitcoin

Explainers

BounceBit is a Bitcoin staking protocol that blends DeFi and CeFi yield mechanisms so that investors can earn yield through a variety of methods. Learn more.

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 is one of the oldest and most iconic cryptocurrencies, it doesn't offer all the utility of modern chains. One of the biggest challenges for Bitcoin investors is that its blockchain doesn't have a native way of 

. BounceBit hopes to solve this problem with a novel staking solution. How does BounceBit provide Bitcoin users with 

 for tokens? Explore this guide to see how BounceBit’s intriguing program works. 

 is a Bitcoin staking protocol. Its blockchain network blends 

 (DeFi) and centralized finance (CeFi) yield mechanisms so investors can earn yield through a variety of methods. The BounceBit ecosystem also includes a 

 universe for developing new projects that are automatically integrated into its platform.

BounceBit was founded by Jack Lu in 2024. Lu previously co-founded 

, a decentralized auction house, and has also worked at an investment company called NGC Ventures. With a background in blockchain’s consensus mechanisms and real-world implications, Lu became interested in both traditional and web3 investments. He realized there was a need for more effective Bitcoin staking systems, and decided to combine his past areas of expertise into a single, unified system. 

BounceBit’s primary goal is to offer users a way to stake Bitcoin. Many other blockchains already offer crypto enthusiasts the choice of temporarily locking their tokens in order to earn staking rewards. Bitcoin doesn't have this feature built-in, but staking is in high demand, since it suits the conservative investment preferences of many people with Bitcoin crypto holdings. BounceBit aims to solve this dilemma in order to help Bitcoin holders earn passive income.

Its staking services are somewhat different from other platforms’. Instead of functioning as a 

 that relies on the Bitcoin blockchain to operate, BounceBit has its own native token and chain. The project’s creators believe that this structure will allow them 

, and they aim to offer users additional options, such as 

), that wouldn’t be possible with traditional Layer 2 staking designs.

The underlying framework of BounceBit's BTC 

 infrastructure is built on a comprehensive PoS chain that uses a collection of nodes secured by community members. Validators temporarily lock their tokens, and each one agrees to surrender their collateral if they incorrectly finalize a transaction. 

BounceBit’s PoS consensus mechanism uses a dual token system. Staked tokens can be in the form of either the native BounceBit token (BB) or 

 liquid staking tokens (BBTC), which exist as temporary tokens users receive in exchange for their BTC or other staked tokens. With this dual token system, BounceBit can ensure it’s providing liquidity for all its projects.

Epoch-Driven Validator Selection and Incentivization

Validators in the BounceBit BTC restaking infrastructure are selected based on a timeline divided into 24-hour segments called 

. At the end of each Epoch, validator rewards are distributed and new validators are selected based on the number of coins a validator holds. This validator selection method allows for substantial liquidity and excellent security.

One of the perks of having its own standalone chain with its own token is that BounceBit is EVM compatible. This means its protocols and smart contracts are designed in a language and structure that the Ethereum virtual machine can process. Due to its EVM compatibility, BounceBit can guarantee seamless integration with a variety of other projects.

BounceBit provides a lot more than just standard staking: it aims to support its users along every step of their investment journeys. When you participate in BounceBit's crypto community, you can enjoy all of these great features.

 is its community. The BounceClub universe is a web3 ecosystem whose users can choose from a built-in library of smart contracts and protocols to build their own projects. Each project is called a BounceClub, and can be downloaded and used by other members. These web3 projects make it easy for people to explore interests ranging from the derivatives market to crypto investments.

Shared security clients are developers who use the security of BounceBit for their own projects. People can use its PoS consensus mechanism to secure their own sidechain or token. In this way, it provides a valuable service while offering more ways for stakers to earn rewards. 

 lets users move their BTC on and off the BounceBit chain. Not only does this make providing liquidity easier, but it also offers extra consistency. All tokens are mapped, from BTC to BBTC, so people can make on-chain transactions that won't vary in value based on market fluctuations.

 helps to move information on and off its chain. This is essential because it allows outside data to regulate BounceBit contracts. For example, the oracle can share the price of other coins and automate the system to make crypto investments when prices are favorable.

Staking rewards on BounceBit come from both CeFi and DeFi systems working together in parallel. A DeFi market maker allows for decentralized trading without order books, while CeFi regulations ensure user assets are held to the highest possible security standards.

This optional feature lets users invest their money to get additional returns from BounceBit's investing services. It uses a 

, low-risk trading strategy for CeFi markets to help people earn even more rewards.

In just a few months, BounceBit has designed its blockchain, released its app and built a community of crypto enthusiasts. The next step on its investment journey is to

its CeDeFi asset management system. This will involve a blend of traditional centralized finance and blockchain-based decentralized finance services. The BounceBit team hopes to spend the rest of the year improving its infrastructure further and collaborating with other companies to provide even more investment opportunities.

BB is the native token of BounceBit. It's used to run the network's staking mechanism and pay gas fees on the network, and is also a 

 will slowly be unlocked. Over the next six years, monthly airdrops and unlock events will release more tokens, which will be distributed as follows:

Since Bouncebit’s BB airdrop in mid-May 2024, the token's value has dropped quite a bit. Like many other new tokens, it's experienced numerous price fluctuations, briefly spiking to its ATH of $0.5508 before dropping to $0.31 and stabilizing in the $0.30–$0.35 range, where its price seems likely to remain for the next few months (as long as its trading volume remains stable).

 will reach a new ATH of $1.71 by 2025 and increase even further to $2.30 by 2029, and DigitalCoinPrice shares similarly positive sentiments, predicting BB 

Looking to trade BounceBit tokens? Bybit now offers both the BB/USDT Spot trading pair and BBUSDT Perpetual contracts. To get started, you’ll first need to create a Bybit account, then fund it with cryptocurrency and navigate to the 

To celebrate this listing, Bybit is also holding 

 where you can earn a share of the 280,000 BB prize pool!

, offers 30 BB each to the first 5,000 new users who complete the following two steps between May 13, 2024, 8AM UTC and May 27, 2024, 9AM UTC:

In addition, from May 13, 2024, 10AM UTC to May 27, 2024, 9AM UTC, simply trade at least 500 USDT worth of BB on Spot to grab a share of the 100,000 BB prize pool. Please 

 that your ranking will be determined by your trading volume. The more you trade, the larger your share of the prize pool. Rewards will be capped at 1,000 BB per user.

, will be held from May 13, 2024, 8AM UTC through May 27, 2024, 9AM UTC. Invite your friends to sign up for a Bybit account with your referral code and complete both steps above for new users in the 

. Referrers of the first 5,000 qualified referees will receive 6 BB for each qualified referee. Rewards will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.

If you're looking for an up-and-coming crypto, BB may be a good way to go. It has quite a few early community members supporting the token, and is experiencing decent trading volume and growth at the moment. However, this crypto's long-term success is difficult to predict. Future airdrops may increase token supply, and demand may drop if BounceBit doesn't become the next big thing. 

Furthermore, the entire BounceBit ecosystem is still a fairly new project that hasn't proven its staking system will work. Therefore, investors need to be cautious about their BB crypto holdings. Make sure to 

, account for market fluctuations and avoid overextending yourself financially. 

BounceBit's liquid staking services use crypto trading and the derivatives market to help users earn staking rewards from their Bitcoin. The key benefits of this ecosystem include its robust crypto community, its support of web3 developers, and its broad range of both centralized and decentralized financial investments. By providing a unique blend of on-chain services, BounceBit already stands out from other Bitcoin restaking services.

BounceBit (BB): Maximizing Yields From Your Idle BTC Assets

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