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.

Beginner

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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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Ethscriptions are on-chain digital artifacts within the Ethereum ecosystem created by using Ethereum calldata to store information directly on the blockchain.

 has a reputation for being one of the most flexible and innovative major 

, and its latest addition, Ethscriptions, has the whole crypto community buzzing. Will Ethscriptions become a valuable crypto investment, or will it be a minor fad that fades away after a few weeks? Explore this guide to learn more about how Ethscriptions work and see where they're likely to go in the future.

Ethscriptions can essentially be thought of as a type of 

. However, they're different from the many other NFT collections on the Ethereum network. Previous NFTs have essentially been 

, managed through a blockchain, that allow you to transfer the right to own certain media to a specific owner. 

With Ethscriptions, the blockchain itself becomes the NFT. Instead of being a separate item managed through an Ethereum smart contract, the blockchain data is its own defined NFT.

Though Ethscriptions are inspired by Bitcoin Ordinals, the two are not to be confused. Not only do they run on separate chains, but they also function differently.

Embedding Ethereum calldata with image information might seem complex, but 

 are actually very straightforward. All Ethscriptions can currently be managed through their official site at

. The site can guide you through the process of making Ethscriptions, and also let you browse through ones that have already been created.

Making an Ethscription starts with selecting an image you’re interested in and converting it into a data 

 format. Next, you take this data URI and convert it into a 

. Both of these tasks can be done in just moments with simple, free online tools. 

Once you have your image in the correct format, you create an Ethscription by making a 0 ETH transaction. The image information is entered into the 

 field when entering the details of the transaction, and an Ethscription is formed.

Every Ethscription must be unique. If another transaction has already included the hex data you want to use, your transaction will be ignored; but if your transaction is unique, you'll own a new Ethscription. You can then use the Ethscription ID either to prove ownership or transfer ownership to another user.

Why Are Ethscriptions Rising in Popularity?

Since their creation, Ethscriptions have skyrocketed in popularity. Almost 30,000 Ethscriptions were created in just the first 18 hours. For several reasons, they’re currently one of the trendiest topics in the crypto community. Their journey to fame dates back to January 2023, when Casey Rodarmor first released the concept of Bitcoin Ordinal inscriptions in a bid to "

." This concept brought NFTs to the Bitcoin ecosystem, creating a lot of excitement.

Ethereum enthusiasts quickly took note and decided to bring the idea to the Ethereum blockchain. Having inscriptions on the Ethereum network solves a lot of problems users had with the original Bitcoin Ordinals. Ethscriptions are more affordable to transfer, so people can trade them back and forth without incurring sky-high 

, so they're ideal for those who prioritize security.

In addition to mimicking an already popular concept, Ethscriptions are also gaining popularity with the Ethereum community because they bring new functionality to the Ethereum network. People can connect images directly to the blockchain, and then use these images for investing funds, collecting rare items or even playing games. Even those who’ve expressed no interest in Bitcoin Ordinals are starting to join in on the Ethscriptions craze because it’s a concept that’s simple to understand, easy to use — and entertaining to experiment with.

As mentioned, Ethscriptions were created in reaction to the popularity of Bitcoin Ordinals, so they share many similarities. Both protocols are a way to add non-financial data directly to a blockchain. People can use both Ethscriptions and Ordinals to trade collectibles, add information to transactions and more.

Despite these superficial similarities, Ethscriptions and Bitcoin Ordinals function very differently. While Ordinals are stored within the smart contract transaction data on the Bitcoin network, Ethscriptions use Ethereum's calldata. This tends to create a less centralized inscription that’s more cost-effective to process. Creators hope the calldata inscription method will prevent the high gas fees associated with Bitcoin Ordinals.

Finally, there are some practical differences in how the two protocols work. Ethscriptions must be unique images, which means that no Ethscription created previously within a block or the same transaction block can be the same, while Ordinals can be identical images on separate coins. Furthermore, Ethscriptions are limited to smaller amounts of data — under 96 kilobytes — while Ordinals can contain up to 4 megabytes. Unlike Ordinals, which can be text, video or even games, Ethscriptions can only be images. However, Ethscription creators do say they plan on eventually adding different file types.

As a relatively new form of NFT, Ethscriptons still aren’t supported on many platforms. Currently, the most popular 

The only other way to trade them is through private sales, but it can be challenging to track down and contact the owners for individual Ethscriptions. Fortunately, Ethscriptions have proven to be so popular that more trading platforms are working to add these NFTs to their listings.

Though Ethscription trades have just started, the market is already picking up steam. Over 159,000 Ethscriptions have been made as of the time of this writing (June 21, 2023). 

The most popular options right now are Ethscription versions of already famous NFTs. For example, most of the 

 collection has already been Ethscribed. Several of these high-ranking NFTs have already sold for high prices. Ethereum Punk #3100 

, and so far, there’s a total trading volume of over $447,000.

If you trade Ethscriptions on an NFT platform, the process is fairly simple. Just browse through available NFTs, select one, connect a crypto wallet, and follow the on-screen prompts to finalize your transaction. 

 tend to have convenient interfaces that guide you through the process, making trading easier.

Behind the scenes, however, trading an Ethscription involves a few separate transactions on the Ethereum blockchain. Sending an Ethscription essentially conveys a 0 ETH transaction to the new owner, while the Ethscription ID is in the hex data field. You'll also need to use monetary transactions to receive or send payment. Many people use ETH for monetary transactions, but NFT platforms (such as 

) also let you use some other popular cryptos like USDC, DAI or AVAX.

Ethscriptions are certainly an intriguing opportunity for investors, and right now, they're quite popular. Users who get in on the ground floor and purchase a desirable Ethscription for a low price can end up making an impressive profit. The new concept also holds a lot of promise for developers who want to make and market their own NFT collections. 

The ability to add NFTs directly to the Ethereum blockchain has many potential applications for the crypto community. Though this probably isn't a crypto trend to put all of your money into, it might be a good way to diversify your portfolio with a few high-risk, high-reward investments. Ethscription trades are especially popular among short-term traders, who hold investments for 30 days or less.

However, keep in mind that the current market (with its $6,000 Ethscriptions) is mostly due to trends. The concept is new and exciting, so people are investing based on community hype. As with any other crypto fad, there’s a chance that this craze might not last. Since current Ethscriptions don't have any use outside of collectibility, their value could randomly drop.

Furthermore, Ethscriptions are a bit limited right now. They have the basic functionality of Bitcoin Ordinals, but can’t hold as much data or support as many different types of files. Unlike Ordinals, Ethscriptions can’t be used to identify pieces of cryptocurrency, so they also don't have as many opportunities for theft detection.

Whether or not Ethscriptions become a good long-term investment will depend on how well the Ethereum community develops them. If the concept expands to include more details, there’s a chance that the concept could take off. Potential use cases for Ethscriptions include things like creating assets for 

 games or designing more on-chain storage for NFTs. 

Instead of hoping that a single Ethscription is going to skyrocket in value, investors may be better off investing in the success of 

 projects that find creative uses for Ethscriptions. As always, you’re recommended to do your own research (

Ethscriptions are a novel way of storing NFTs and images on the Ethereum blockchain. Since they're more secure, and more affordable to transfer than Bitcoin Ordinals, Ethscriptions are currently popular among both collectors and traders. In addition, some smart investors may be able to capitalize on these trends and make an impressive profit. Finally, this exciting new technology holds a lot of potential as well for both crypto games and other web3 products.

Ethscriptions: Ethereum’s Take on Bitcoin Inscriptions

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