Dec 9, 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 — U.S. Payroll Rebounds While Unemployment Increases 

In November, U.S. hiring showed a notable increase, with nonfarm payrolls rising by 227,000, following a revised gain of 36,000 in October, which was affected by storms and strikes. Despite the growth in payrolls, the unemployment rate rose to 4.2%, indicating a cooling labor market rather than a significant decline. Average payroll growth over the past three months was 173,000, a decrease from earlier in the year, suggesting a moderation in hiring.

The uptick in the unemployment rate can be attributed to an increase in long-term joblessness, which is the highest it’s been in nearly three years. This has led traders to speculate that the Federal Reserve may consider another interest rate cut at its upcoming meeting from Dec 17–18, 2024. The data, adjusted for disruptions like the Boeing strike and hurricanes, supports the Fed's assessment that although the labor market remains solid, it’s less of a driver for inflation.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell has indicated that recent rate cuts aim to bolster the labor market, although some policymakers suggest a pause on further cuts may be needed, as the economy is showing resilience. The report highlights a mixed job landscape, as hiring has been strong in healthcare, hospitality and government, while retail has seen significant job losses.

The labor force participation rate fell to 62.5%, the lowest since May, and the number of people unemployed for over 27 weeks increased, reflecting longer job search times. Overall, while layoffs remain low, some major companies have announced head count reductions. Wage growth has stabilized, suggesting that demand for new hires is moderating.

Weekly Crypto Highlight — Retail Is Coming Back With Altcoins Surging, as Bitcoin Breaks $100K With Whales’ Accumulation

Token Sentiment Across Social Media. Sources: Bybit, Santiment

The cryptocurrency market is witnessing remarkable growth, particularly in major assets such as XRP, Cardano (ADA) and Stellar (XLM). XRP has surged by an impressive 444%, while ADA and XLM have seen increases of 280% and 512%, respectively. This surge is largely attributed to aggressive accumulation by whale investors and cautiously optimistic sentiment within the crypto community.

 activity plays a crucial role in shaping current market dynamics. Since mid-October 2024, whale wallets have accumulated a total of 91,856 BTC, significantly contributing to Bitcoin’s price increase. In contrast, there’s been a decline in 

 holdings among these wallets, indicating a strategic shift toward investing in more volatile cryptocurrencies rather than maintaining stable asset positions.

In addition to whale accumulation, the cryptocurrency landscape is evolving with several trends emerging. Interest in 

 is waning as investors pivot toward more sustainable projects with long-term potential. This shift reflects a growing desire for robust investments instead of speculative plays.

The integration of AI into blockchain ecosystems is another transformative trend. 

 are enhancing transaction processing efficiencies and supporting the development of virtual economies, creating new opportunities for innovation.

Moreover, hyperliquid token generation events (TGEs) are gaining traction. These innovative mechanisms improve liquidity and enhance the trading experience, addressing challenges that have historically plagued new tokens.

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Weekly Institutional Insights: Bitcoin Reaches $100K, Altcoins Surge, U.S. Payroll Increases

Bybit WSOT 2024 broke records with $100B in trading volume, over 77,000 traders and innovative events such as the DEX Wave. This recap dives into highlights, top performers and key stats.

The Bybit World Series of Trading (WSOT) is a premier global trading competition that continues to set new benchmarks in the crypto industry. WSOT 2024 saw record-breaking participation, with over 77,000 traders from 161 countries generating $100 billion in trading volume. 

This year’s event introduced features like the WSOT DEX Wave, tiered competition leagues and ROI reset options, making the competition more accessible and fair.

This article provides a detailed overview of WSOT 2024, including its highlights, innovative features and exceptional performances by individuals and squads. It also examines Bybit’s efforts to integrate traditional finance (TradFi) and 

 (DeFi) to push the boundaries of crypto trading.

 has become one of the world’s most prominent cryptocurrency trading competitions. Designed to celebrate trading excellence and foster a sense of community, WSOT attracts participants from across the globe who compete for prestige and significant rewards.

The 2024 edition of WSOT raised the stakes with a prize pool of up to 10,000,000 USDT, distributed across three competitive leagues tailored to traders’ capital size:

WSOT 2024 emphasized inclusivity with its structured tiers, enabling traders of all levels to participate. Coupled with advanced features such as ROI resets and strategic use of 

 (UTA), this year’s competition underscored Bybit’s commitment to innovation and fostering global engagement in crypto trading.

The Bybit WSOT has grown into the world’s largest crypto trading competition, showcasing exceptional trading talent and innovation since its 2020 inception. Each following year, WSOT has raised the bar with increasing participation, prize pools and charitable contributions.

Key highlights from past WSOT events include:

With each successive edition, WSOT has further cemented its place as a premier trading competition, combining inclusivity, high stakes and global community engagement.

WSOT 2024: Key Highlights and Records Broken

WSOT 2024 set new standards for crypto trading competitions, attracting worldwide participation and breaking multiple records. This year’s event highlighted the scale, inclusivity and competitive spirit of the global trading community.

WSOT 2024 redefined crypto trading competitions, merging innovation with inclusivity. The event’s record-breaking achievements, robust community engagement and impressive prize pools underscore Bybit’s commitment to elevating the trading experience.

With features like DEX integration and tiered competitions, WSOT continues to push boundaries, setting a benchmark for global crypto events.

WSOT DEX Wave: Expanding Into Decentralized Trading

Introduced at WSOT 2024, WSOT DEX Wave brought DeFi and web3 trading into the spotlight. This new segment allows participants to explore and engage with a variety of web3 projects, competing for the 1,000,000 MNT prize pool while navigating the growing 

Participants evaluated over 100 web3 projects, casting votes and contributing 120,000 voting points. The competition featured a fair weighting system, ensuring all projects received a balanced opportunity for recognition.

By engaging with real-use cases, traders not only demonstrated their skills but also gained deeper insights into emerging decentralized technologies.

DEX Wave introduced a new dynamic to WSOT, encouraging traders to bridge the gap between traditional trading and the decentralized market. By focusing on web3 projects, the event underlined the expanding role of decentralized platforms in the evolving crypto landscape.

With record-breaking participation and $100 billion in trading volume, Bybit WSOT 2024 set a new benchmark for crypto trading competitions. The event showcased Bybit’s commitment to innovation, fair competition and a seamless trading experience, solidifying its position as a leader in advancing the global cryptocurrency trading ecosystem.

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Bybit WSOT 2024 Recap: Record-Breaking Year

Phantom Wallet, with 7M monthly users, has integrated the Sui blockchain, marking its first support for a Move-based network and a significant step for Sui’s ecosystem. 

Daily Top Performer — Morpho Protocol (MORPHO)

The S&P 500 fell 0.19% as investors awaited the November jobs report, which may influence the Fed's anticipated rate cut. Coindesk Indices, an index measuring broader cryptocurrency market performance was up by 8.2%, with Bitcoin and Ether rising by 0.17% and 0.40%, respectively in the past 24 hours.

Today's top performer is MORPHO, which surged 54.0% following the launch of DeFi Saver's Automated Leverage Management for Morpho on Base.

Morpho Protocol (MORPHO), founded in 2021, is a decentralized Ethereum-based lending protocol that enhances crypto lending through a P2P order matching system. It allows customizable lending markets and features Morpho Vaults for various risk levels. Initially launched in 2022 with Morpho Optimizers for Aave and Compound, it later introduced Morpho Blue in 2024 for flexible lending markets. Morpho Labs continues to focus on developing Morpho while still supporting the original Morpho Optimizers. 

, enabling Automated Leverage Management. This includes Auto-Repays for unwinding and Auto-Boosts for leveraging up based on set threshold ratios. Users can configure their positions easily. The feature is available for several Morpho markets, such as cbETH/USDC, wstETH/USDC, and more, with additional markets to be added in the future.

Check Out the Latest Prices, Charts, and Data of 

Phantom Wallet, with 7M monthly users, has 

 the Sui blockchain, marking its first support for a Move-based network and a significant step for Sui’s ecosystem. This expands Phantom's multichain support beyond Solana, Bitcoin, and Ethereum, offering Sui users features like staking, swaps, and NFT storage across mobile and browser platforms.

Yesterday, BTC Spot ETF flows recorded a $148.8M outflow from GBTC, partially offset by a $145.0M inflow to non-GBTC funds, resulting in a net outflow of $3.8M.

" hints at a potential $FUEL airdrop happening earlier than expected, despite the Fuel points program running until January 2025. Speculation surrounds whether this refers to the airdrop or another development.

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Phantom Wallet Expands Multichain Support with Sui Integration

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.

BTC has finally surpassed the $100K mark, leading to increased bullish positioning in derivatives markets. This reflects strong sentiment and a desire for upside exposure in perpetual swaps and futures. Short-term implied volatility has risen as traders seek options to capitalize on the rally.

Please check out the report’s highlights.

BTC's successful breach of the $100K barrier has led to a noticeable return of perpetual swap markets to all-time high open interest levels, although the response has been somewhat muted. Earlier in the week, perpetual swap markets shifted their focus to ETH after BTC's repeated failures to break through $100K. While funding rates for both derivatives remained high and positive, open interest in ETH contracts increased at the expense of BTC positions prior to the breakthrough. Additionally, ETH trade volumes have constituted a larger-than-usual market share.

BTC Calls See No Significant Influx Post-$100K

The sudden rise in spot prices has triggered a sharp increase in demand for short-tenor options, as traders seek exposure to the upward movement. BTC's term structure inversion has driven short-tenor implied volatility levels above realized volatility. Although implied volatility for BTC is lower than that of ETH, open interest data shows that the influx of call option open interest in BTC markets wasn’t as significant as for ETH. Nevertheless, BTC's volatility skew remains strongly bullish.

ETH's options market showed the most bullish positioning ahead of the overnight spot move, while the perpetual swap markets for both major cryptocurrencies reflected strong positive sentiment. Open interest is heavily weighted toward OTM calls, signaling a robust preference for upside exposure as realized volatility starts to catch up to implied volatility. This demand for upside exposure is evident for both tokens, particularly with ETH's remarkable increase in call option open interest over the past 24 hours.

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Bybit X Block Scholes Crypto Derivatives Analytics Report (Dec 5, 2024): After BTC Turns $100K, Investors Are Still More Bullish on ETH

Bybit Learn

web3

Explainers

Altcoins

GameFi

Kroma (KRO) introduces a sustainable Layer 2 rollup optimized for web3 gaming, delivering low-cost, fast transactions on Ethereum.

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Gaming is one of the fastest growing niches in the crypto industry, but further growth of 

-based games and gaming platforms is hampered by network congestion, poor scalability and high transaction fees on 

 — a blockchain that is frequently the default choice for 

 (DApp) developers. To provide a smooth gaming experience, the underlying platform needs to feature near-instant transactions, low 

 and affordability. Unfortunately, Ethereum often struggles in all of these areas.

 (L2) rollup solution dedicated to web3 gaming that aims to address the speed and cost inefficiencies of the Ethereum 

 (L1) blockchain. Using a combination of optimistic and 

 features, Kroma features two-second block times and gas fees of tiny fractions of a cent. Having launched its mainnet in September 2023, Kroma has already built up a young but thriving ecosystem of DApps, not only in the niche of gaming but also in 

 (EVM)–equivalent Layer 2 rollup platform linked to the Ethereum blockchain that uses a combination of optimistic rollup and ZK proof technologies. 

Built using the OP Stack rollup development framework, Kroma is part of the 

 (OP) Superchain network, an ecosystem of rollup chains based on OP Stack. Kroma aims to provide a highly scalable and low-cost environment for web3 game developers and users.

The platform's mainnet was launched in September 2023, and already boasts over 70 active DApps (as of early November 2024). 

 apps make up about one-third of these, with the remaining ones primarily focused on NFTs, DeFi and infrastructure.

Kroma offers gamers and developers a wide range of user-friendly tools and apps. One of these is 

, a solution that lets you seamlessly deposit crypto assets from the Ethereum Mainnet to Kroma and withdraw from Kroma back to Ethereum. Another one is Blockscout, a versatile blockchain explorer that provides detailed statistics for hundreds of decentralized networks, including Kroma's own mainnet and testnet, Ethereum, Optimism (OP), Base (BASE), Immutable X (IMX), Gnosis (GNO) and more.

There are also over 20 active gaming apps from a variety of genres represented on Kroma. One of the more popular apps is 

, a game that allows you to earn points by exploring galaxies and doing exercises such as squats, combining fun with fitness. Another one is 

, an omnichain artificial intelligence (AI) strategy game integrated with DeFi features.

Kroma was launched by Lightscale, a blockchain development outfit founded by Taekyu Park and Derek Junyoung Chang. Lightscale is a subsidiary of Wemade, a South Korean game development giant and one of the leading Asian gaming companies.

There are four primary network actors on Kroma — validator nodes, full nodes without block validation responsibility, sequencers and end users. End users interact with the Kroma L2 network directly, though they also have the option to utilize Ethereum to move assets between the L1 blockchain and Kroma.

The sequencer is a critical node that batches and organizes the L2 off-chain transactions into blocks and submits the processed blocks to the L1. Validator nodes are responsible for verifying the integrity of transactions and blocks. Kroma validators can also submit zero-knowledge 

to challenge a block's validity on L1. In addition to validators, there are also full nodes without block processing responsibility who read transaction data and outputs, and act as part of the overall 

Using this setup, Kroma can deliver exceptional performance in terms of speed and costs. Transaction blocks on the platform are finalized within two seconds, while the average 

 on the network is small fractions of a cent, a stark contrast with Ethereum's average fee of around $3 (as recorded on Nov 2, 2024).

Transitioning From Optimistic Rollup to ZK-Rollup

Although the Kroma network was built using the OP Stack, a popular framework for 

, it has modified the default OP Stack setup to incorporate ZK proofs to provide a more robust and fault-proof system. Normally, transaction blocks processed on Kroma use optimistic validation, i.e., they’re considered valid unless a validator raises a challenge for a specific block, questioning its validity. Additionally, Kroma uses ZK proofs if a block's validity is challenged. The proofs serve as a backup mechanism to help process transaction blocks as efficiently as possible in case of potential validity challenges.

While the platform currently represents a mixture of optimistic and ZK validation, Kroma aims to eventually move to a universal ZK-rollup based on ZK proofs as its only validation mechanism. Despite the move to a ZK-based proof system, the platform will remain compatible with the Optimism Superchain. Thanks to the modular nature of the OP Stack technology, ZK proof–based rollups can also be part of the Superchain.

 solution. Using it, you can deposit Ether (ETH) and various liquid staking tokens (LSTs), such as stETH and eETH, into a vault in order to receive Spectrum's spETH liquid restaking token. The vaults are hosted on the 

 DeFi platform. spETH is locked in these vaults in the form of weETH tokens, earning you additional yields. While weETH earns you yields through the vault, the spETH that backs it can simultaneously be used to accrue reward points from three DeFi platforms — Kroma, ether.fi and 

Despite the somewhat convoluted design — which is definitely not unusual in the world of DeFi — Spectrum's liquid staking and restaking services can be a great way to earn additional yields and loyalty points on several DeFi platforms using the same underlying investment.

 (KCU) is designed to attract users from across the Kroma ecosystem to participate in a common gamified environment. In KCU’s gamified environment, hosted on the Kroma network, you can mint your own Kromans, dwellers of the Universe; complete a variety of quests to earn Ore, a resource used to reveal Mystic Boxes; and use Mystic Boxes to reveal additional gear and items to equip your Kroman NFTs. While participating in the KCU and completing quests, you can also socialize with other players through their Kromans. Participation in the KCU also gives you opportunities to qualify for KRO airdrops.

 is a solution designed to help any user contribute to the block validation process on Kroma Layer 2 and earn a share of block rewards. This staking format is possible thanks to Kroma's 

 (DPoS) block validation procedure. KGH was launched in late October 2024.

Holders of Kroma's native cryptocurrency, KRO, can 

 their funds on their preferred validator to help secure the network's operations, earning a share of block rewards commensurate with the amount they stake. Each validator node charges a small commission on the total amount earned by a delegator. The rate of commission varies between validators, typically ranging between 3% and 10%.

Validators themselves stake KRO on Ethereum to gain the right to process transaction blocks. Kroma claims that there have been more than 350 nodes registering on the network as validators since the platform's launch. However, as of Nov 3, 2024, there are only 13 validators to whom you can delegate your assets through the 

 interface. These are mostly members of the Kroma Security Council, which we'll cover in the next section.

Another group of users who can take advantage of staking opportunities on Kroma is that of holders of KGH NFTs, an NFT collection issued by the project that sold out by January 2024. However, these NFTs can still be bought in the secondary market via 

’s NFT marketplace. Using these NFTs to back up a validator earns you boosted staking rewards on top of the standard rate.

 is a group of key network actors whose main responsibility is to jointly act as the final layer of security for the platform's proof system. If there are inconsistencies or problems with Fault Proofs raised on the network, council members are expected to resolve these.

Members of the council are also involved in decision-making processes related to Kroma's 

 on L2 and L1. Kroma currently lists nine organizations as members of its Security Council. Among these are the nonprofit Kroma Foundation, as well as Animoca Brands, one of the giants of web3 gaming.

Kroma's native cryptocurrency, KRO, is an 

 asset with a total supply of just over 875 million and a maximum supply set at 1 billion. KRO is envisioned to power three key functions on the network — gas fee payments, staking and on-chain governance. The token was launched on Oct 30, 2024, over a year after Kroma's mainnet introduction. Its supply allocation shares are shown in the chart below.

 is designed to reward various groups of early adopters and active participants on the network. Besides this airdrop, you can also take advantage of the 

 between Oct 29, 2024, 10AM UTC and Nov 12, 2024, 9AM UTC via Bybit's 

 program. Under the terms of the airdrop campaign, you can receive a share of the 6.6 million KRO prize pool by following Bybit’s and Kroma’s accounts on X, reposting the campaign announcement with comments, depositing at least 1,000 KRO to your Bybit account and trading at least 100 USDT worth of KRO on Bybit's Spot market. You can also earn KRO rewards by inviting friends and new users to join Bybit.

Web3 gaming depends upon the ability of blockchain platforms to provide the necessary levels of speed, scalability and cost-efficiency. With its highly efficient rollup setup, Kroma hopes to become a key enabler of blockchain-based gaming. Fast transactions, two-second block times, minuscule gas fees and the security of ZK proofs make Kroma a potentially serious player within the web3 gaming niche.

Having operated without a native token for over a year, Kroma finally launched KRO in late October 2024. This new token might significantly boost the platform's appeal and recognition among crypto gamers, developers and investors. However, these projections are currently assumptions, and only time will tell if this new platform progresses into an influential web3 gaming sector player.

Kroma (KRO): The Layer 2 Supercharging Gamified Web3

Grab Up to 5,000 USDT in Rewards

Grab Up to 5,000 USDT in Rewards