Dec 30, 2024: 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 — Last Few Trading Sections of 2024 See Retrace 

Despite the optimism surrounding Trump's trade policies and the excitement over AI, 2024 has been a challenging year for investors across various markets. Persistent inflation and the volatility of the Federal Reserve's actions have contributed to a general sense of unease. Notably, the largest exchange-traded fund for long-dated Treasuries experienced significant fluctuations before ending the year in negative territory. Commodities, influenced by fluctuating expectations of Chinese stimulus, have also faced ups and downs. Even safe investments saw declines, as rising yields affected BlackRock’s $30 billion investment-grade ETF, resulting in its worst fourth quarter in eight years.

Equities provided a glimmer of hope, with U.S. companies leading the charge. However, this rally wasn’t uniform, as the S&P 500 fell by 1.7% on a typically quiet year-end day. This drop highlighted struggles for value and small-cap stocks, as the S&P 500's impressive 25% return masked weaker performances among its average constituents.

Momentum investing, a strategy that capitalizes on market trends, saw remarkable success, but concerns were raised about its sustainability. While it gained 31% in 2024, marking its best year since 2002, recent downturns have made investors wary of potential volatility. Analysts note that, while technology stocks have thrived, the increasing dominance of passive funds could render the market more susceptible to sudden shifts.

Weekly Crypto Highlight — Kimchi Premium Surges

, a significant indicator of Bitcoin's popularity among South Korean investors, has surged to a four-month high amid the East Asian nation’s escalating political turmoil. Currently, the gap between Bitcoin’s prices on Coinbase and the South Korean exchange Upbit ranges from 3–5%. A rising kimchi premium typically signals increased demand for Bitcoin among South Korean investors, with a similar trend observed for the stablecoin 

According to Ki Young Ju, co-founder and CEO of CryptoQuant, South Korea is experiencing an unprecedented outflow of wealth driven by political instability, declining birth rates and sluggish economic growth. Inflation fears are prompting residents to convert their 

 into U.S. stocks, Bitcoin, gold and dollars, with many preferring cryptocurrency exchanges over traditional banks, resulting in premiums for Tether and Bitcoin.

The political crisis intensified after President Yoon Suk Yeol's brief and rescinded declaration of martial law, followed by his impeachment on Dec 14, 2024. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo was appointed acting president, but was also impeached, marking a historic first. Compounded by economic challenges and threats from North Korea, the turmoil has unsettled financial markets, leading to a 0.35% decline in the South Korean won against the U.S. dollar.

South Korea is known for its vibrant retail cryptocurrency market, with trading volumes on local exchanges often surpassing those on stock exchanges. Since corporate accounts are prohibited, the crypto market in South Korea is predominantly driven by retail investors. The kimchi premium serves as a key metric for gauging retail interest in cryptocurrencies, influenced by strict currency controls and 

Advanced

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Weekly Institutional Insights: Equity and Crypto Retreat in Last Few Days’ Trading; Kimchi Premium Surges

Odos (ODOS) is a multichain DEX aggregator offering optimal swaps, gas-inclusive rates, multi-token trades, and a loyalty program.

 (DeFi) sector has long been a key driver of growth for another type of protocol in this area — DEX 

 platforms. These aggregators scout the DEX ecosystem accessible to them to find and execute token swaps at optimal rates for their users. As the DEX landscape has grown increasingly complex and varied, aggregator platforms have become more relevant to the needs of DeFi users.

In the niche of DEX aggregators, Odos provides a solution that stands out, thanks to its intent optimization algorithm, an extensive network of used blockchains and protocols, an efficient order routing mechanism and a sophisticated multi-token swap functionality. Although Odos isn't among the heavyweights of the DEX aggregator category just yet, it features the ability to access liquidity on 14 chains, boasting some of the broadest coverage of sources in this sphere.

 (ODOS) is a cross-chain DEX aggregator that offers users the best possible swap rates, thanks to its intent optimization order routing and its extensive network of accessible chains and protocols. 

As of late December 2024, Odos boasts the ability to access liquidity on over 900 protocols across 14 blockchain networks. The platform's coverage of liquidity sources is among the highest among DEX aggregators. Some of the leading chains accessible to Odos are 

 (AVAX), to name a few. The platform can also access DEX liquidity on smaller networks, such as 

 (SOR), its proprietary algorithm, to search for the optimal swap deals for user intents across a vast network of liquidity sources. The platform's intent optimization algorithm scans available 

 sources via complex, nonlinear paths in order to identify and deliver the best rates.

The Odos aggregator supports different kinds of orders, including simple swaps, multi-token swaps and 

. Its simple swaps offer users guaranteed rates, without sneaking in any hidden charges, such as gas fees or 

 rate losses. When a user requests a swap quote, the protocol finds the best possible deal, inclusive of gas fees and other charges. The effect of slippage is also taken into account so as to avoid surprises for the user. In short, the rate you see is what you pay, with no additional fees involved.

Odos also offers multi-token atomic swaps, sophisticated order types involving token swap combinations within one transaction. You can request swaps with multiple sell tokens at specified amounts and one or more buy tokens at preferred proportions. For instance, the image below is a screenshot from the Odos app showing a request to sell one Ether (ETH) token, one 

 (ZRO) token, via a single atomic transaction, to buy MakerDAO's 

 (USDT) stablecoin at a 50/50 proportion.

Odos also supports limit orders, so you can specify a target price for a token pair and have your order executed only if the desired rate is reached.

At the heart of the Odos platform is its intent optimization system, which scouts the network of 

 across the entire ecosystem accessible to the protocol to find the best ultimate path for your swaps. In total, Odos has access to over 55,000 DeFi assets. Nonlinear, complex search routes are employed to source the best swap deals.

The rates Odos finds usually include gas fees to avoid uncertainty for users, and the protocol optimizes gas costs through the integration of 

, a leading gas estimation solution. In some cases, Odos might suggest routes involving higher gas fees, but only if the gains from the lower rates that it finds outweigh the expenditure on gas. In short, the routes and rates Odos finds take into account all the fees involved.

Odos is a permissionless system, and doesn't hold user funds in its own custody. It simply finds optimal routes for swaps by leveraging its 

, which are regularly audited by third parties to ensure the security of the entire platform. As of December 2024, Odos has undergone three audits conducted by two reputable blockchain security companies — Zellic and Halborn.

Some order types on Odos (e.g., simple swaps) protect users from slippage rates by providing guaranteed quotes inclusive of all fees. For other swap operations, users can specify slippage rate limits, and their intended transactions will only be executed if the final rate stays within the acceptable slippage limit.

While not all components of the Odos platform are open-source, the critical order router system is, further ensuring the transparency of the protocol.

The project also offers an API for developers to easily integrate Odos's smart order routing into their own platforms. There’s a free API access mode, with a limit of 600 requests per five minutes. For any higher volume requirements or unlimited access, developers can get in touch with the Odos project for paid API plans.

Odos Zaps allow you to transform any crypto assets you own into 

 in one seamless transaction. Zaps offer 

 v2–style pools in which the ratio of provided tokens is fixed at 50:50. However, unlike standard Uniswap v2 pools, Zaps liquidity provision doesn't result in losses due to any imbalance in the ratio of contributed assets.

To correct any deviations from the 50:50 ratio at the liquidity provision stage, Odos Zaps recalculates and rebalances your asset contributions to deliver you the maximum number of LP tokens. Such rebalancing is used for standard Uniswap v2–style pools.

Additionally, Odos Zaps can be used for non-standard pools that don't conform to the Uniswap v2 format, and any imbalances in your asset contributions are returned to your wallet — instead of being rebalanced — so you pay only the minimum required amount for your LP tokens.

The Odos Loyalty Program rewards users based on the amount of transaction revenue generated from their on-platform trading activities. Rewards are calculated for each epoch (which currently lasts 30 days). The primary rewards within the program are transaction fee rebates, which are paid out to users (after each epoch) in ODOS tokens.

Rebate rates vary by tier, with each membership tier based on a specific number of ODOS tokens locked on the platform. The more ODOS you lock, the higher the rebate percentage. Loyalty badges are given to users who attain certain membership tiers. The table below shows the rebate rates and ODOS requirements for each tier of the program.

The Odos DAO is the platform's decentralized, community-driven governance structure. It's designed to support all matters related to Odos's governance and decentralized development, including facilitating on-chain voting by ODOS token holders. Both the DAO and the platform's 

, ODOS, were launched in December 2024, more than two and a half years after the platform's April 2022 public launch.

The platform's native cryptocurrency, ODOS, is an 

 Layer 2 chain. As noted above, ODOS is used for governance purposes. Token holders can vote on proposals concerning the protocol's future direction, development and rules. Each ODOS token entitles the holder to one vote.

Besides governance, ODOS is also used within the platform's Loyalty Program for transaction rebate payouts and to qualify for different membership tiers.

ODOS is a supply-capped token, with a total and maximum supply specified at 10 billion. The token's supply allocation shares are per the figure below.

The ODOS token is available on Bybit's Spot market as a 

. You can also take advantage of Bybit's 

 (running through Jan 2, 2025, 9AM UTC) for the chance to grab a share of the 9.5 million ODOS prize pool. The first 6,000 new users who complete basic identity verification can earn 1,000 ODOS if they accumulate a deposit volume of at least 3,000 ODOS, or deposit at least 100 USDT and trade 100 USDT worth of ODOS for their first trade with Bybit.Meanwhile, existing users can qualify for up to 

 by trading at least 500 USDT worth of ODOS on the Spot market.

Odos's optimal order routing solution offers DeFi users a unique way to conduct both simple and multi-token swaps and take advantage of the best rates available across no fewer than 14 blockchain platforms. As Odos increases its number of integrations and partners, it will be able to further optimize transaction costs and ensure that users can benefit from some of the most competitive swap rates available in the world of DeFi. Whether you’re after a complex multi-token swap functionality, or would like the certainty of guaranteed simple swaps with no hidden fees, the Odos DEX aggregator has something in store for you.

Intermediate

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Odos (ODOS): Simple and Secure Multichain Swaps

Syrup is a DeFi platform offering institutional-grade yields powered by Maple. Find out more about the fast-growing protocol with over $230 million in total valued locked (TVL).

 (DeFi) platform designed to bring institutional-grade lending yields to a broad audience. Built on Maple’s proven lending infrastructure, Syrup allows users to earn consistent yields by participating in overcollateralized lending pools. Syrup stands out for its integration with major DeFi protocols.

This article explores Syrup’s features, tokenomics and staking opportunities, showcasing its ability to bridge institutional-grade lending with DeFi accessibility.

This article also highlights the innovative SYRUP token, staking mechanisms and security measures on Syrup that ensure both scalability and reliability in the DeFi space.

 is a DeFi platform that offers institutional-grade lending yields to retail and DeFi users. Powered by Maple, Syrup facilitates overcollateralized, fixed-rate loans to institutional borrowers, ensuring consistent returns for users. 

With a TVL of $232.8 million, an average APY of 22.4% and a collateral ratio of 173.1%, Syrup has quickly become a trusted name in the DeFi space. 

By allowing users to deposit USDC or USDT and earn yield through LP tokens like syrupUSDC, Syrup combines Maple’s lending infrastructure with DeFi’s permissionless access to create a seamless earning experience.

 is a leading institutional lending protocol in the DeFi space, designed to deliver fixed-rate, overcollateralized loans to institutional borrowers. Established in 2019, it plays a pivotal role in Syrup’s ecosystem by providing its robust lending infrastructure.

By merging the strengths of traditional finance (TradFi) with blockchain efficiency, Maple sets the foundation for Syrup to offer institutional-grade yields to DeFi participants.

Yield Opportunities and Institutional Lending From Maple

Syrup is powered by Maple’s lending infrastructure, leveraging its expertise in fixed-rate lending and compliance to deliver consistently high yields. By tapping into Maple’s ecosystem, Syrup enables permissionless access to institutional-grade lending for DeFi participants.

By combining Maple’s structured credit framework with Syrup’s permissionless accessibility, the two platforms create a seamless bridge between TradFi and DeFi for institutional-grade lending opportunities.

Syrup offers a suite of features designed to simplify earning yields and managing assets in the DeFi space.

By combining lending, staking and reward mechanisms, Syrup offers a streamlined approach for users to generate high yields while actively participating in the platform’s ecosystem.

Syrup operates as a layer on top of Maple, simplifying access to institutional-grade DeFi yields. It abstracts the complexities of Maple's permissioned system to allow seamless user interaction while leveraging Maple's robust lending infrastructure. 

By streamlining access to institutional lending, Syrup empowers users to benefit from Maple's high yields with reduced operational complexity. This user-centric design makes DeFi yields more accessible while maintaining robust security.

The Syrup token (SYRUP) operates as the core utility token of the Syrup platform, bridging its DeFi ecosystem with institutional-grade lending from Maple.

SYRUP provides staking incentives, governance rights and utility across both Syrup and Maple’s ecosystems, ensuring active engagement and long-term value for holders.

Staking SYRUP tokens allows holders to earn rewards while contributing to the ecosystem's growth. Here’s how the staking mechanism works:

Staking rewards, governance participation, and instant unstaking options make SYRUP staking attractive for its ecosystem’s participants.

Syrup effectively bridges institutional-grade lending with DeFi accessibility, offering consistent yields, seamless staking and robust integrations with the Maple ecosystem. With strong tokenomics, comprehensive security audits and a clear road map for growth, Syrup has positioned itself as a leader in sustainable DeFi solutions

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Syrup: Institutional DeFi Yields

MOODENG surged significantly following a donation from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who adopted Moo Deng, a pygmy hippopotamus, and contributed a substantial amount to support wildlife conservation. 

The S&P 500 dropped 0.04%, halting a potential "Santa Claus rally." It has risen 26% in 2024, with attention now turning to the Fed's 2025 policy and geopolitical risks. Coindesk Indices, an index measuring broader cryptocurrency market performance was down by 3.15%, with Bitcoin and Ether dropping by 3.65% and 3.81%, respectively in the past 24 hours.

Today's top performer is ME, which surged 13.9% following the launching of 'Mooz' by Cool Cows on the Magic Eden Launchpad.

Magic Eden (ME), launched in September 2021, is the largest NFT marketplace on the Solana blockchain, allowing users to buy, sell, mint, and manage tokens. Cool Cows announced the launch of "

" on Magic Eden Launchpad on December 27th. They encourage joining their Discord for a chance at WL or OG spots before launch day.

Check Out the Latest Prices, Charts, and Data of 

MOODENG surged significantly following a 

 from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who adopted Moo Deng, a pygmy hippopotamus, and contributed a substantial amount to support wildlife conservation. Despite the explosive price increase, analysts warn that the gains may be temporary due to broader market volatility and overbought conditions. Trading volumes spiked, but technical indicators suggest potential corrections. Overall, market sentiment remains cautious, with predictions of possible price dips before stabilization.

Yesterday, the total flow for BTC Spot ETFs was 418.7 million, with 442.9 million in non-GBTC and a -24.2 million flow in GBTC.

 is scheduled for January, with draft criteria revealed during an AMA. Participants can earn JUP tokens based on their swapping volume, starting at $800 for 50 JUP. Higher volumes can earn up to 20,000 JUP. Additional allocations are available for users of Jupiter's Perps, DCA, Limit Orders, or VA features, as well as JUP stakers and governance participants. These criteria are draft and may change.

Beginner

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MOODENG Soars After Vitalik Buterin's Wildlife Donation

Memes

Altcoins

Dogelon Mars is an ERC20 meme coin on the Ethereum blockchain that is inspired by Elon Musk's vision of colonizing Mars in its project.

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have captured the attention of cryptocurrency traders and investors in the last two years. The meme trend in crypto started after Tesla owner Elon Musk publicly started tweeting about 

. Since then, many Dogecoin-inspired meme crypto projects have appeared in the market. Dogelon Mars (ELON) is one such project, taking its motivation not just from the popularity of DOGE but Elon Musk himself.

Thus, Dogelon is one of the many meme cryptocurrencies which users can trade or invest in. While ELON isn’t directly related to Elon Musk, his name appears to have inspired many to hold it. As of today, there are over 115,000 holders of Dogelon Mars, with a community of around 550K followers on Twitter.

In this article, we’ll examine what Dogelon is, its unique features, and whether it’s a good investment.

Dogelon Mars is unique in many ways. Its community has earned a reputation for helping victims of crypto scams. The Dogelon Mars community has made it their task to donate ELON coins to victims of cryptocurrency scams to help reduce their losses. The community is also unified in appealing to Elon Musk for support of their project.

, the Dogelon Mars project packs some galactic ambitions. Its stated goal is to become an interplanetary currency that may be used when — hopefully — living beings colonize Mars and beyond. Its immediate goal is to pay for the transport of settlers to Mars.

Colonizing Mars has long been a vision for Elon Musk. Hence, Dogelon Mars creators are directly appealing to Elon Musk with this meme crypto.

There’s also an accompanying comic fantasy story of a dog named Dogelon, which serves as background for the project. The tale begins in the year 2440, when Mars has been recolonized after the first galactic voyage. But the arrival of “the annihilators” is threatening to destroy young Dogelon’s comfortable life on Mars, and he must prepare to face the threat. 

In due course, Dogelon has to travel back in time and space to the planet Earth and start a new voyage that will help everyone “reach the stars.” The official Dogelon Mars website has published several 

Dogelon Mars draws some similarity with Bitcoin and Shiba Inu, as its founders have also chosen to remain anonymous. Moreover, like Shiba Inu, Dogelon Mars creators have gifted 50 percent of the supply of ELON tokens to 

 co-founder Vitalik Buterin, and locked up the rest in a Uniswap liquidity protocol.

Dogelon Mars creators have reinforced that their project isn’t a rug pull by burning the liquidity provider tokens. A 

 is a typical cryptocurrency scam where developers pump up the value of their coin, then abandon the project after withdrawing as much of the asset as they can. However, ELON creators cannot commit a rug pull because they’ve burned the tokens they’d received for depositing their funds into the project.

controls 43% of the total Dogelon Mars cryptocurrency. The Methuselah Foundation received these Elon tokens as a donation from Vitalik Buterin on May 12, 2021. It has vowed to “maximize” ELON’s value so it can contribute to the foundation’s charity works. Buterin has also 

 his remaining ELON holdings to several other charities.

Dogelon Mars is built on the Ethereum blockchain, and works in the same way as any other ERC20 meme coin. It can easily be tracked on any Ethereum block explorer.

The on-chain history of Dogelon Mars shows that the anonymous developers of the coin never conducted a token pre-sale, nor did they give anyone early access to ELON coins before making a public debit.

You can buy ELON on Uniswap and trade your coins for other cryptocurrencies.

Current ELON holders have either purchased the coin on the decentralized exchange, or received them as donations from Vitalik Buterin or other ELON holders.

While the stated purpose of the Dogelon community is to make this crypto an interplanetary currency, the developers haven’t released a white paper or a detailed road map, as is generally done by a crypto project. Rather, they posit a fantasized version of their road map whereby Dogelon Mars keeps growing in value to become a fair universal currency.

The official Dogelon Mars website doesn’t provide much detail about the project or the team behind it. Rather, it presents a number of fictional stories depicted through cartoon strips.

The Dogelon Mars team has several plans to expand their crypto project. In late 2021, they 

 plans to incorporate DeFi and staking opportunities for ELON holders. They intend to introduce xELON, a governance token that will facilitate decision-making and provide incentives in the Dogelon Mars DeFi ecosystem. These xELON tokens would be rewarded to users staking their ELON coins to make the Dogelon ecosystem stronger.

The starting total supply of the project is 1 quadrillion ELONs. As mentioned, while Dogelon Mars developers already sent half of these coins to Vitalik Buterin, the remaining half were permanently locked in a liquidity pool on Uniswap. 

he estimated circulating supply of ELON is currently over 550 trillion. The current market cap of ELON is approximately $146 million. The 24-hour trading volume of Dogelon Mars was approximately $2 million.

Dogelon Mars coin touched its all-time high price on October 31, 2021, reaching $0.00000279. Since then, its price has been seeing a steady drop by over 85 percent to $0.0000002674 today.

Before deciding whether ELON is a good investment or not, it’s important to take a look at its key positive and negative points.

 – On the positive side, ELON has a strongly evolving community that isn’t just interested in its own growth, but also in helping victims of crypto scams in the market. 

 – The mere association of Vitalik Buterin’s name with the project as the recipient of 50% of total supply drives some confidence among investors. Though Buterin has donated most of his ELON holdings, 43 percent of the total supply is still with the charitable Methuselah Foundation, giving a sense of purpose to the community and aspiring investors.

 – The connection with the Tesla/SpaceX CEO through the use of his name, as well as the billionaire’s affinity for all things meme coin and Mars, also give investors some confidence in this coin.

 – On the negative side, however, there is no actual utility for ELON. The project's dream of becoming an intergalactic currency is also far-fetched, considering it’s not even a planetary currency as of now. Thus, you cannot use this cryptocurrency for payments — even on Earth. 

– There is as yet no clear road map, either. The project appears simply to be banking on the hype surrounding meme cryptocurrencies. In the absence of a public white paper listing clear goals, Dogelon Mars is clearly a risky bet for anyone.

– The number of ELON in circulation is very large. It’s unlikely to reach a significant price point in the future. Currently, users can only buy and hold ELON in a crypto wallet. At this point, there’s nothing else they can actually do.

Whether or not to buy Dogelon Mars depends upon your appetite for risk.

Cryptocurrencies are considered very risky for investment purposes. Cryptos with no utility and clear goals are considered even riskier.

When it comes to Dogelon Mars, everything about the project comes across as vague, apart from the obvious ticker name — ELON. The project’s developers are trying to bank on this name recognition (despite remaining anonymous themselves).

Crypto investment experts often suggest that in order to avoid future shocks, one should always invest in projects that are ranked higher and have some utility. As of now, ELON has no practical utility, apart from its lofty dream of becoming an intergalactic currency in the future.

For a conservative crypto investor with less risk appetite, large public blockchain projects like Bitcoin and Ethereum may be more appropriate for investment. There are several other large-scale projects with significant use cases and potential for long-term value creation.

 are keeping investors away for the time being. There’s an overall sentiment of “extreme fear” in crypto markets, resulting in a precipitous fall in price for almost every crypto. The price of ELON has also fallen by over 25 percent in the past 30 days. 

However, considering the fact that Dogelon Mars packs some significant memeable features — the dog meme, Mars exploration, and the Elon angle — its price may appreciate when the overall crypto market improves and investors’ risk appetites rebound. In a bear market, however, ELON may not be a good choice for investors.

Building a social media community, harping on buzzwords like dog and Elon Musk, and promising price reach to the moon have been the typical playbook copied by scores of meme crypto projects ever since the rise of Dogecoin. 

However, not all of these projects have been successful in making their investors rich. ELON appears to be one of these as of now. It’s currently indistinguishable from hundreds of other such meme cryptocurrencies already in circulation. In fact, many of these have proven to be scams.

Several meme projects continue to boast of strong backing communities. But their prices haven’t appreciated as hoped after the rise of DOGE and Shiba Inu. Even if it turns out not to be a scam, Dogelon Mars seems to be one of the many dog-themed meme coins that may meet a similar fate as the projects that have come before them.

What Is Dogelon Mars? The Humanitarian ELON Coin

Grab Up to 5,000 USDT in Rewards

Grab Up to 5,000 USDT in Rewards