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.

Advanced

21 Apr 2025 weekly newsletter.png

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.

Beginner

1.png

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.

block-scholes-x-bybit-report.jpeg

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

KiloEx.png

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

web3

Explainers

ERC-5169 is an Ethereum token standard that facilitates the creation of tokens with embedded scripts that contain executable programming logic.

2401-T16454_Skinny_Banner_for_Blog_and_Learn_Row_53_728x90.png

Skinny_Banner-1600x400.webp

The year 2015 witnessed a true revolution in the blockchain industry when 

 they’re based on, DApps introduced the capability to execute programming logic directly on the 

. Over the following few years, Ethereum’s platform continued to drive innovation by unveiling a succession of crypto token standards.

The foundational ERC-20 standard, which underpins DApp functionality, was formally endorsed in 2017. That same year, the platform announced another game-changing innovation — the ERC-721 

 (NFT) standard. Two years later, the ERC-1155 multi-token standard was introduced on the blockchain by the 

 (ENJ) gaming platform. These advancements in token standards and their underlying technologies continue to support the functionality of the world's largest smart contract chain.

Ethereum’s dedication to token standard innovations hasn’t diminished. In 2023, a new standard — ERC-5169 — was adopted specifically to support smart tokens. The ERC-5169 token has executable scripts and programming logic embedded within it. Its potential to completely change the way Ethereum tokens and DApps are used could lead it to emerge as a key bridge between the worlds of 

ERC-5169 is an Ethereum standard for the development of tokens that include embedded executable scripts. 

The script code within an ERC-5169 token turns it into a truly “smart token.” Such tokens are capable of executing complex actions, such as interacting with external platforms and devices, or carrying out rule-based operations which were previously only possible via the use of smart contracts.

The ERC-5169 token standard was first proposed in May 2022 by Smart Token Labs, an Australian blockchain technology startup founded in 2017. Smart Token Labs has also introduced a couple of associated technologies — the TokenScript development framework and the Smart Layer distributed network — to facilitate the launch and management of smart tokens.

ERC-5169 is a unique token standard because it represents the first proposal in the history of Ethereum — or the entire blockchain industry, for that matter — to attach executable code to a single token. The standard has the potential to drastically alter the way that entire ecosystems of DApps, smart contracts and blockchain crypto tokens are utilized. That’s because ERC-5169 essentially enables tokens to act as self-contained mini DApps, without the need for smart contract–based apps we’re accustomed to.

Thanks to the executable programming logic attached to individual ERC-5169 tokens, the standard can be used to create crypto assets that can interact not only with other tokens and blockchain platforms, but also with external Web 2.0 websites, devices and products.

ERC-5169 can also facilitate the development of dynamic and complex crypto tokens, such as dynamic NFTs. While such NFTs currently utilize smart contracts for their functionality, the ERC-5169 standard makes it possible to embed the entire code responsible for dynamic changes into a token. This lets an NFT travel across different platforms that might not be compatible with each other, while still retaining all of its dynamic properties.

How Does the ERC-5169 Token Standard Work?

The ERC-5169 standard adds a new function, 

, to the token’s smart contract — the piece of code on the blockchain that allows you to issue and manage the token. This scriptURI() function contains a reference to an executable code that the ERC-5160 token can include. In this way, the token becomes a self-contained asset with embedded programming logic — essentially a mini-DApp.

The standard’s creator, Smart Token Labs, also offers two critical technologies that allow ERC-5169 tokens to interact with external web3 and Web 2.0 environments — TokenScript and Smart Layer.

TokenScript is a code framework that provides tools to create a front-end interface and functionality for external apps and programs to interact with ERC-5169 tokens. While the actual token contains the necessary code and programming logic, TokenScript translates these into usable functions and interfaces, adjusted for the app that utilizes the token. In essence, TokenScript is a middle layer between the end-user and the ERC-5169 token they interact with.

As a connecting layer between users and ERC-5169 tokens, TokenScript also provides additional functions to extend and modify how users interact with their tokens.

The fundamental goal behind the introduction of TokenScript is to facilitate the use of ERC-5169 assets on different platforms.

Smart Layer is another technology designed to expand the adoption of ERC-5169 tokens by external platforms. Essentially it’s a distributed set of 

 that monitor and process smart token interactions with various environments — Web 2.0 platforms, blockchain-based smart contracts, mobile apps and more. Along with TokenScript, it can be used to set up smart layer tokens that conform to ERC-5169 specifications.

Smart Layer isn’t a blockchain by itself. Instead, it’s a layer of distributed nodes that acts as a connecting medium between blockchains and external platforms, such as websites or mobile apps. While TokenScript facilitates user interfaces and interactions with underlying ERC-5169 tokens, Smart Layer serves as a core processing hub, enabling seamless communication between tokens and external platforms.

As an alternative to blockchain-based smart contracts, the ERC-5169 standard presents virtually limitless opportunities within blockchain environments as well as at the intersection of blockchain and Web 2.0. Some of the major use cases for the standard include the following.

As the ERC-5169 standard is still fairly new, most of its actual applications started to emerge only in late 2023 to early 2024. Perhaps the most well-known and publicized project that makes use of ERC-5169 tokens is the 

 (POL), a collection of dynamic NFTs with a complete game embedded in each token. Owning a Smart Cat enables you to participate in a game where you care for your digital pet by grooming, feeding and cleaning it. 

You can also interact with other Smart Cat owners — and take your pet on play dates with theirs!

 game are of the xNFT (executable NFT) type, a variation of NFTs made possible thanks to the ERC-5169 standard. As of February 2024, Smart Cats remains the most popular application of the ERC-5169 technology in the blockchain world. Nevertheless, as this technology is relatively young, expect more practical use cases and applications to emerge throughout the year.

ERC-5169 is among the latest token standards to drive innovation on Ethereum. As it becomes more popular, it’s inevitable that it will be compared to other token standards utilized on the chain. The three most commonly used among these are ERC-20, ERC-721 and ERC-1155.

 is the leading Ethereum standard for creating fungible cryptocurrencies, and has been instrumental in the growth of Ethereum DApps. First introduced in 2015, ERC-20 was formally adopted by Ethereum’s blockchain in 2017.

While ERC-5169 is largely designed for unique, non-fungible tokens, the ERC-20 standard is applicable strictly to fungible crypto assets.

ERC-721 is Ethereum’s primary standard for NFTs, crypto assets that feature non-fungibility (i.e., uniqueness) as a key property. It was introduced in 2017, quickly leading to an explosion in the popularity of Ethereum-based NFTs.

Similar to ERC-721, the ERC-5169 standard is primarily used for distinct, non-fungible tokens. However, ERC-721 NFTs are typically static, rely on on-chain smart contracts for their functionality, and don’t feature any of the embedded scripts or executable logic found in ERC-5169 NFTs.

 Ethereum standard can be used for creating both fungible and non-fungible crypto tokens via the same smart contract. It’s widely used by applications that need to have dual-mode (fungible and non-fungible) functionality within the same environment or for the same operational purpose. For instance, 

 platforms may choose to use the standard to enable fungible in-game crypto assets for loyalty points, and NFTs for loyalty categories.

Similar to ERC-20 and ERC-721 (but unlike ERC-5169), the ERC-1155 standard doesn’t provide a function to embed executable scripts within tokens. 

The Future of the ERC-5169 Token Standard

ERC-5169 might change the blockchain industry in the same profound ways as ERC-20 and ERC-721. For the first time in Ethereum’s history, executable and self-contained smart tokens are now an option for developers. In a way, such functionality could actually cannibalize further adoption of smart contracts and DApps: let’s not forget that smart tokens aren’t an enhancement for these technologies, but rather a complete, self-reliant alternative to them.

With ERC-5169, we might just be starting to move away from Ethereum’s blockchain being a DApp hub to its becoming a web of individual smart tokens. Moreover, this technology isn’t limited to Ethereum alone, as the Smart Layer network enables the use of smart tokens on any 

 chain. For example, the most prominent ERC-5169 application, 

, has chosen Polygon as its primary hosting environment. In the future, it’s likely that the standard will be expanded to include the majority of EVM platforms. We might also see the replication of ERC-5169’s executable token concept on other, non-EVM smart chains. 

But the most radical transformation that will arise from the ERC-5169 standard is the convergence of web3 and Web 2.0 technologies. Because all of their programming logic can be contained within one token, ERC-5169 assets will easily be able to traverse blockchains and interact with Web 2.0 platforms. 

For years, discussions have centered on the lack of effective interaction and interoperability between web3 and Web 2.0. The ERC-5169 standard is a major step toward resolving these issues. The standard will help combine web3's security and tokenization advantages with the widespread usage and popularity of Web 2.0.

Thanks to this versatile token standard, the distinction between web3 and Web 2.0 may soon blur, and these two distinct digital worlds might even converge into a unified entity, powered by the ERC-5169 functionality. 

Moreover, who wouldn’t like to own an NFT that’s a complete game or application in itself? This prospect alone is so enticing that it’s hard to see ERC-5169 not gaining popularity and widespread adoption in the blockchain industry.

ERC-5169: Bridging Web 2.0 and Web3 With Dynamic Tokens

Compete for 2,500 USDT Every Week

Earn Points by Completing Tasks

Event Rules

Register now and get 10 points

Write/Reply Comments (0/5)

Publish an Article (0/5)

Share an Article on Social Media (0/5)

Like an Article (0/5)

Read an Article (0/5)

Weekly Leaderboard