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

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web3

Altcoins

Explainers

Blockchain

FIO Protocol (FIO) streamlines blockchain transactions with simple, secure FIO Handles, enabling user-friendly crypto payments and digital identities. 

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 has brought many benefits to its users, such as faster transactions, cheaper fees and better online privacy. However, due to its technical nature, navigating the blockchain landscape can be challenging.

In order to use blockchains, you need to understand private keys, master complex public addresses, understand how to transact between blockchains and many other technical functions. In short, the lack of user-friendliness has been a significant barrier to the broader mass adoption of blockchain.

Against such challenges, FIO Protocol was created to simplify the homogenous use of blockchain for the masses. Numerous crypto applications, including top crypto wallets such as MetaMask and others, have already integrated FIO Protocol’s features to boost the quality of users' experiences.

Let’s look at how FIO Protocol has made blockchain more user-friendly through secure, industry-standardized features.

FIO Protocol is a feature-rich naming solution provider for blockchain users. It’s designed to remove the complexity of transacting across different blockchains by providing user-friendly and secure features.

 FIO Protocol’s vision is to provide a platform that mitigates the risks and complexities associated with blockchain use by integrating simple features, such as a human-readable handle, 

 (NFT)–powered digital identities and censorship-resistant transaction requests.

Co-founded in 2019 by Pawel Mastalerz and David Gold, FIO (Foundation for Interwallet Operability) is operated and advised by a team of industry experts and leaders with the collective goal of simplifying wallet usability across blockchains. The 

 was set up as a non-profit organization that helps facilitate the adoption of FIO Protocol. It consists of a board of directors, voted on by FIO Token holders. The directors then appoint a Steering Committee to monitor key performance indicators (KPIs).

At the heart of FIO’s operations is the FIO Token. It’s the native token for FIO Chain, a 

 blockchain designed to power the usability of the FIO ecosystem.

FIO Protocol is powered by FIO Chain, a fully decentralized Layer 1 blockchain built to enhance the usability of blockchain and simplify blockchain use. FIO Chain is powered by a 

 (DPoS) consensus mechanism, and run by block producers across the globe. It is a 

 and runs using Antelope, an open framework for building secure and fast 

Block producers (BPs) are critical in securing and governing the 

 and the overall FIO Protocol. Anyone can register to become a BP on FIO, and if successfully voted using FIO Tokens, they can proceed to produce blocks.

Blocks of FIO Chain are produced every 0.5 seconds by a designated BP, with a complete block requiring 126 rounds. The top 21 active BPs are assigned the next round of block production, and are selected based on geographical location to ensure high performance.

BPs on the FIO Chain operate under a specific code of conduct that requires them to ensure the network operates at optimal capacity. Active BPs are required to run a 

 that can handle around 100 requests simultaneously. BPs also set FIO chain fees and the number of transactions to be included in each FIO Handle (see below).

To simplify the usage of blockchain technology, FIO consists of the following array of innovative features integrated into its ecosystem.

The FIO Handle is a secure, customizable and human-readable username in the form of an email address that replaces the use of complex public wallet addresses when transacting across blockchains. Designed as an NFT, an FIO Handle is your digital identity in the web3 space.

, and can be mapped to any public address to receive cryptocurrencies. It can also be mapped to your social media pages, or even used as an NFT to sign for ownership of assets. The FIO Handle never expires, and it comes pre-loaded with 100 gas-free transactions. The basic format of an FIO Handle ranges from three to 64 characters.

To make things easier for crypto users, FIO Protocol has enabled the mapping of FIO Handles to the public addresses of any supported wallet. Wallets that have integrated with FIO have two options when mapping the FIO Handle. The first is automatic mapping of the public address to the Handle. Alternatively, applications may let the user decide which public addresses to attach to a FIO address.

As mentioned, you can use your FIO Handle as an NFT signature to prove ownership of a web3 digital asset. Furthermore, you can attach an NFT 

 to your FIO Handle in order to prevent NFT forgery.

You can also attach your FIO Handle to a customized FIO domain, creating an NFT-enabled web identity that you can use across multiple blockchains. These domains are self-governed and secured using a private key on FIO Chain. FIO domains have to be transferred to the 

A FIO Request is an on-chain transaction whereby a payee (sender) requests funds from a payer (receiver) using a FIO Handle. (Think of FIO Requests as Venmo-style crypto payments.) The details of FIO Requests are private and only readable by the parties to a transaction. All FIO Requests are encrypted using the 

, which consists of a cryptographic secret between the payee’s private key and the payer’s public key. These Requests are included as part of the bundled transactions for your FIO Handle. Payers are free to accept or reject FIO Requests, and users only have to confirm payment details (instead of entering them manually), reducing the risk of sending payment to the wrong address or network.

FIO Data is another feature of FIO Protocol that lets you send and receive encrypted metadata using your FIO Handle across blockchains. Since data is end-to-end encrypted, only the sender and receiver can access the details — which makes this process private and censorship-free. The client can then match and display the metadata using a unique blockchain ID.

 of FIO Chain, the blockchain that powers the FIO ecosystem. It plays various roles in the FIO ecosystem. Since it’s a 

, FIO Token holders vote to approve block producers, who can secure the FIO network. These token holders also get to vote for the board of directors that runs the FIO Foundation.

To incentivize participation in FIO Protocol’s governance, token holders can stake FIO Tokens to accrue rewards. Block producers are rewarded using FIO Tokens as an incentive to act in the best interest of the protocol. FIO Token is also used to pay all on-chain transaction fees and registration fees when acquiring a FIO Handle and FIO Domain.

Furthermore, the FIO Token can be wrapped and used across various blockchains. 

 can be done on the FIO Chain, and tokens 

 between the FIO Chain and the Ethereum chain.

FIO Token has a maximum supply of 1 billion tokens and a circulating supply of 794.12 million, of which 98.57 million tokens are locked and 82.04 million are 

 (as of Oct 16, 2024). There was no ICO or public sale of FIO Tokens. Instead, the tokens were distributed to different stakeholders and contributors to FIO Protocol in the early stages of the project, with 64.87% of the FIO Token max supply distributed as follows:

The remaining 35.13% of the FIO Tokens continue to be minted per the following schedule:

 Perpetual contract. The token has been listed in Bybit’s 

 handpicked by Bybit's professional team. This program gives you direct and transparent access to innovative projects with potential for higher returns, as well as higher associated risk. Due to the risky nature of such projects, trading fees will be comparatively higher.

As of Oct 16, 2024, the FIO Token’s price is $0.031, a 94.5% drop from its all-time high (ATH) of $0.56 on Apr 06, 2021, and a 91.1% increase from its ATL of $0.016 on Aug 05, 2024.

Price prediction experts are pretty bullish on the future price of FIO Protocol’s FIO Token. According to price forecasting platform CoinCodex, FIO 

 $0.031 in 2025 and rise to $0.12 by 2030. Another price prediction platform, DigitalCoinPrice, believes FIO 

 $0.08 in 2025 and gradually increase to a maximum of $0.23 by 2030.

While these price predictions are bullish, they aren't financial advice, and they do not guarantee the future price of FIO Token. We highly recommend that you 

 before investing in the FIO or any other digital currencies.

The complex and technical nature of blockchain technology has been a major challenge, hindering its broader adoption. The use of a human-readable address in the form of a FIO Handle that can replace a public address simplifies transacting across blockchains without compromising security and privacy. NFT-enabled FIO domains provide a forgery-proof method for securing digital assets, and a unique way to brand yourself in the web3 space through FIO NFT signatures.

Overall, the FIO Protocol and Token create innovation that significantly improves the usability of blockchain, potentially making FIO Protocol a critical player in the web3 digital identity niche.

FIO Protocol (FIO): Powering Effortless Crypto Payments

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