Derivatives Market Analysis
- Bitcoin futures markets indicate sustained bullish momentum with open interest reaching unprecedented levels at $32.6 billion, reflecting increased trader exposure. Binance leads with $13.6 billion in open interest.
- The stable 3-month annualized basis around 7% confirms ongoing profitability in basis trades, supporting positive market sentiment and suggesting conviction-driven positioning rather than short-term speculation.
- BTC options present mixed signals with 25 Delta Skew declining to 3.25%, indicating put premium for downside protection, while call options dominate volume at over 56%, showing majority expectation of continued rally.
- Funding rates across major exchanges remain healthy at 9-10% annualized, though Deribit shows an extreme spike to 60%, suggesting concentrated long demand on that specific platform.
Industry Updates
By Oliver Knight
- Plasma founder Paulie Punt has denied allegations of team members selling XPL tokens despite contradictory on-chain data, emphasizing all allocations remain locked for three years with one-year cliff provisions.
- Punt challenged characterizations of Plasma as primarily composed of "ex-Blast" employees, noting only three of approximately 50 team members had prior affiliations with Blur or Blast, while highlighting diverse professional backgrounds including Google, Facebook, and Goldman Sachs.
- The founder explicitly denied any market-making arrangements with Wintermute, stating the company possesses no additional information about Wintermute's XPL holdings beyond public data.
- XPL token performance has declined since launch, dropping from $1.68 to $0.97 despite maintaining consistent daily trading volume of $2.6 billion.