Trends in Crypto Innovations

Crypto is Now Officially Classified as Securities in Nigeria President Bola Tinubu has signed the Investments and Securities Act (ISA) 2025 into law, introducing major reforms that will impact investors, financial markets, and digital assets. Here are some of the most important changes you need to know: PART 1 1️⃣ Digital Assets Are Now Recognized For the first time, Nigeria has passed a law that officially recognizes cryptocurrencies and other digital assets as securities. This means that crypto exchanges and businesses dealing with digital assets will now be regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Why This Matters for You ✅ Crypto is now legal and recognized – This gives digital assets more credibility. ✅ Safer investment environment – With government regulation, scams and fraud should reduce. ✅ More investor protection – Crypto exchanges will have to follow strict rules to protect users. In simple terms, this law makes crypto investing in Nigeria more structured and secure. 2️⃣ SEC Now Has Stronger Oversight The SEC now has more power to monitor and regulate investment firms and financial markets. What’s Changing? ✅ Stricter monitoring – Investment companies will be watched more closely. ✅ Harsher punishments for scams – Ponzi schemes and fraudulent businesses will face severe legal action. ✅ More transparency – Investors will have access to clearer information before making financial decisions. What does this mean for you? Less risk of scams, better protection for your money, and more trust in Nigeria’s financial system. 3️⃣ Stock Markets Will Now Have Different Categories To make investing easier, Nigeria has introduced a new way to classify stock markets (exchanges): Composite Exchanges – These can trade all types of investments, like stocks, bonds, and cryptocurrencies. Non-Composite Exchanges – These focus on one type of investment, like just stocks or just crypto. Why This Matters ✅ You’ll know exactly where to invest based on your goals. ✅ Markets will be more organized, making investing easier. ✅ Regulation means fewer shady platforms tricking people. 4️⃣ Ponzi Schemes Are Officially Banned Nigeria has made it illegal to promote or run Ponzi schemes fake investment programs that promise high returns but collapse when new investors stop joining. What This Means for You ✅ Better protection from scams – The government is actively fighting fraudulent schemes. ✅ Safer investment choices – People can invest in real, regulated opportunities. ✅ Less risk of losing money to get-rich-quick schemes. These changes will make investing in Nigeria more secure and aligned with global standards. Do you invest in crypto, stocks, or other assets? What do you think about these new changes? Let’s discuss in the comments! If you found this helpful, repost and share this with other investors or potential investors so they can stay informed. The financial landscape is changing don’t get left behind!

How Bitcoin Options Compare to Equity Index Options: Volatility, Correlation, and Skew With the growing popularity of Bitcoin options, an important question arises: how do Bitcoin options’ volatility dynamics behave? The paper explores this issue. The study first highlights a key difference between Bitcoin and equity markets: in traditional stock markets, volatility tends to decline when stock indices rise. In contrast, cryptocurrency volatility can increase regardless of whether prices are moving up or down. This characteristic is reflected in the dynamics of Bitcoin’s volatility surface. -In equity markets, the correlation between an index’s price and its implied volatility is typically strongly negative. -For Bitcoin, this correlation is regime-dependent. From August 2019 to November 2020, the correlation was approximately -0.42, then rose to 0.74 over the next five months, and was nearly neutral (0.08) between July and November 2022. -In traditional equity markets, implied volatility skews in a nearly linear fashion, meaning deep OTM puts increase the most in price during a downturn. -Before the March 12, 2020 crash, Bitcoin’s implied volatility curve was relatively symmetric, with ATM options having the lowest volatility (around 50%), while OTM puts and calls had higher volatilities (around 75%). -After the crash, Bitcoin’s volatility smile became asymmetric, as deep OTM put options saw a surge in implied volatility to nearly 200%, reflecting increased demand for downside protection. Despite this asymmetry, Bitcoin’s volatility skew remained flatter than what is typically observed in equity index options. -Bitcoin options share some characteristics with equity index options, such as volatility at different moneyness levels moving in tandem with ATM volatility of the same maturity. -Bitcoin’s implied volatility term structure follows cyclical patterns, experiencing backwardation in high-volatility periods and contango during calmer market conditions. Reference: Alexander, C., & Imeraj, A. (2023). Delta hedging bitcoin options with a smile. Quantitative Finance, 23(5), 799–817. Join a community of 4,000+ quants—subscribe to the newsletter! Link in profile. #options #volatility #bitcoin Abstract We analyse robust dynamic delta hedging of bitcoin options using a set of smile-implied and other smile-adjusted deltas that are either model-free, in the sense that they are the same for every scale-invariant stochastic and/or local volatility model, or they are based on simple regime-dependent parameterisations of local volatility. These deltas are popular with option market makers in traditional assets because they are very easy to implement. Previous empirical research on dynamic delta hedging is based solely on equity index options, but analysis of our unique data on hourly historical bitcoin option prices reveals that bitcoin implied volatility curves behave very differently from those of equity index options...

Each week in crypto just seems to get more action packed. → $2B SOL unlock incoming.  → Ethereum rollback talks.  → Signs the Fed might halt QT. Here’s what you missed this week 👇 📌 Macro mayhem Fed officials are considering pausing QT as the US debt ceiling remains unresolved. Fed minutes hint at caution - “inflation remains somewhat elevated” - while reserves dip below $6.8T. With key US data like Q4 GDP incoming, markets are on edge for policy signals. 📌 Dollar & Gold The dollar index (DXY) bounced back last week after Trump’s aggressive tariff threats. Gold, riding the uncertainty wave, shot past $2,800. Turbulent times. Safe-haven assets are flashing red. Don’t blink. 📌 Crypto dip Bitcoin is hovering around $96K with ETH around $2,700- $2,800. Altcoins are taking a beating - SOL crashed by 13.21% with a $2B unlock on March 1. The total crypto market cap now stands at $3.12T, with altcoins (excluding ETH) at $876.6B. It’s a classic case of crypto on the ropes, but BTC is defying gravity. 📌Stablecoins are on fire The stablecoin market cap hit $226.5B - up $1B week-over-week. USDT climnbed by $462M and USDC by $726M. Meanwhile, BTC ETFs saw a net inflow of $500M despite ETH ETFs suffering a 13.35K ETH outflow. 📌 Key crypto highlights The Ethereum community is losing its mind over the Bybit hack rollback debate. Near just dropped its autonomous Shade Agents, promising to revolutionize on-chain AI. UMA, Polymarket, and EigenLayer are joining forces to set a new standard for prediction market oracles. Innovation is very much alive but - as always in crypto - the narrative is shifting. 📌 Venture deals Deal flow is strong despite the turbulence, with 26 deals closed and $157M raised this week. → Universal got $9M to disrupt cross-chain transfers → Fluent Labs raised $8M to build an Ethereum Layer 2 blended network → Altius bagged $11M in pre-seed funding Infra projects accounted for 42% of deals - investment is still pouring into crypto infrastructure. 📌 What’s next? With the upcoming US data releases and the possibility of further QT pauses, the macro environment could flip the switch on crypto’s next move. And as new tariffs loom and regulatory shifts continue, this might just be the calm before the next storm. Don’t miss next week’s alpha drop from Gate Ventures Catch the full recap here 👉 https://lnkd.in/d4Rpr2yv

Coinbase released its 2025 Crypto Market Outlook report. It's 87 pages long, so here are the 10 key takeaways: 1/ Institutional Adoption Growth • Institutional players like BlackRock and Fidelity entered crypto • Approval of spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs brought $30.7B in net inflows within 11 months 2/ Stablecoins Expansion • Stablecoin market cap rose 48% in 2024, reaching $193B • Expected to hit $3T in five years, driven by increased adoption for payments and remittances 3/ Tokenization Revolution • Tokenized real-world assets (excluding stablecoins) grew by 60%, reaching $13.5B in 2024 • Projected to potentially hit $2T-$30T over the next five years, transforming financial markets 4/ DeFi Resurgence • Regulatory clarity and integration with TradFi are key growth drivers • Decentralized exchanges now account for 14% of centralized exchange volumes 5/ Regulatory Clarity • 2024 set the stage for U.S. regulatory advancements with bipartisan support for pro-crypto measures • Europe’s MiCA regulation and frameworks in the UAE, Hong Kong, and Singapore are enhancing global competitiveness 6/ Layer-2 Scaling Success • Ethereum’s rollups reduced costs by 90%, boosting activity 10x across Layer-2s • Challenges like fragmented liquidity and user onboarding persist but are actively being addressed 7/ Multichain Future • New L1s like Sui, Aptos, and Sei compete with Ethereum for differentiation • A multichain ecosystem is emerging, allowing specialization for different use cases 8/ Bitcoin Ecosystem Expansion • Institutional investment in Bitcoin ETFs continues to grow • Bitcoin dominance rose to over 60%, with infrastructure innovations like L2s and staking protocols gaining traction 9/ User Experience Improvements • Integrated wallets and paymasters reduce complexity for end-users • Focus on simplifying wallets and onboarding with technologies like account abstraction 10/ AI and Crypto Synergies • AI agents with crypto wallets are gaining attention • Long-term value accrual mechanisms for AI-crypto integration remain unclear P.S. What do you think will be the top narratives of 2025? Follow 👉 Aram Mughalyan & share ♻️ this post if you like it.

Are stablecoins making a comeback? And is this a threat or an opportunity for big #ecommerce and payment platforms? Let’s take a look. Stablecoins are a form of #cryptocurrency, created to counterbalance crypto’s main weakness – extremely high volatility, i.e. the rapid and unpredictable fluctuation of its value – by means of pegging them to a more stable asset like the US dollar or gold. The spectacular fall of the, then 4th largest stablecoin with an $18 bn market cap TerraUSD (UST), and of its companion token Luna in May 2022, had devastating consequences not only for investors but also for the concept as a whole. However, since then there has been a slow but steady recovery: —  In Aug 2023, PayPal announced the launch of PayPal USD (PYUSD), a dollar denominated #stablecoin backed by a combination of USD deposits and other highly liquid equivalents such as US short-term treasury bills. —  6 years after dropping bitcoin (BTC) and crypto payments, Stripe has just announced its return to supporting global stablecoin payments (starting this summer, initially only with USDC on the Solana, Ethereum and Polygon blockchains). —  About a year ago Visa announced support of stablecoin settlement (on Solana and Ethereum) for web3 merchants via acquirers such as Worldpay and Nuvei. —  Grab, Southeast Asia's leading superapp, has enabled in Singapore the toping up of their GrabPay Wallet via digital payment tokens, including 3 stablecoins (USDT, USDC and XSGD). —  Latin American platform Mercado Pago (essentially Latin America’s Amazon) has been offering USDC payments for customers in Chile. —  Since Aug 2023 Shopify has a stablecoin check-out integration and its customers can pay in USDC via Solana Pay (the payment protocol built on the Solana blockchain). Why are these major players betting on stablecoins? —  Stablecoin is a part of their building and supporting a new, multi-pollar #payments infrastructure. —  Stablecoins are a bridge between the fiat and web3 world for consumers, merchants and developers. —  They can become an alternative in the remittances / cross-border payments market not only for consumers but also on the B2B side. —    It’s part of a broader positive stance on the potential of digital currencies. See, for example, what central banks are doing with CBDCs. —    The regulatory environment seems more favourable now (i.e. pilot projects in Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan). The interconnection between the traditional (regulated) financial system and the stablecoin and crypto world is set to increase. Some perceive it as a threat (i.e. regulators), whereas for others it can be a huge opportunity (i.e. imagine a platform that third parties can use to issue stablecoins on multiple blockchains). Irrespective of which side you belong to, stablecoins are slowly but steadily making a case that cannot be ignored. Opinions: my own, Graphic sources: Global X / Erik Anderson, kucoin, cryptorank

Goldman Sachs' Stablecoin Summer Report 1. Regulation Spurs Adoption - The GENIUS Act (July 2025) created the first U.S. federal stablecoin framework. It requires 1:1 backing with safe assets (Treasuries, bank deposits, MMFs). - Analysts expect this to unlock mass adoption, with Circle’s IPO and Tether.io preparing a U.S.-compliant version. 2. Explosive Market Growth - The stablecoin market is now ~$270bn, led by Tether ($166bn) and Circle ($68bn). - Treasury Secretary Bessent forecasts U.S. stablecoins could grow to $2tn by 2028. 3. Treasury Demand Impact - Stablecoins are already a top-20 holder of U.S. Treasuries. - Every new coin issued equals a dollar of Treasuries purchased. - Analysts caution, however, that mass redemptions in a crisis could fuel volatility. 4. Limited Bank Deposit Threat (for now) - Bank deposits in top U.S. banks (~$14tn) remain stable. - GS finds USDC growth is positively correlated with bank deposits, suggesting little substitution yet. - Migration would require stablecoins to beat deposit economics or frictions. 5. Global Dollarization Driver - Two billion adults outside the U.S. lack access to dollar accounts. - Across Africa/LatAm, USDC is often preferred to local currencies. - Stablecoins lower remittance costs (global average ~7%), offering real-world utility. Real Life Example - In Argentina, citizens increasingly hold USDC over Pesos to preserve value amid inflation. Merchants often accept dollars or crypto directly. This “dollar-on-a-smartphone” shows how stablecoins are not just theory—they’re already replacing failing local currencies. Why This Matters Stablecoins sit at the intersection of payments, savings, and global finance. For issuers, the business model (reserve yield) is lucrative. For Treasuries, they may provide a new demand base. For banks, the challenge is whether deposits migrate. For regulators, the question is whether this innovation strengthens or fragments financial stability. Where We Go From Here - Short-term: Expect a “stablecoin gold rush” (Brian Brooks) over the next 2–3 years. - Medium-term: Tokenisation of real-world assets ($295bn today) could supercharge stablecoin utility. - Long-term: The policy debate: do private stablecoins win, or will central banks step back in with CBDCs?

Stablecoin transaction volumes could hit $100 trillion by 2030 – while bank tokens may process even more. Just read Citi Institute's "Stablecoins 2030" report and the numbers demand a complete rethink of digital money infrastructure. ↳ Stats that demand attention: • $1.9 trillion base case for stablecoin issuance by 2030 (revised up from $1.6T in April'25) • $4.0 trillion bull case scenario – representing 40% YTD growth in 2025 alone • 50x velocity assumption translates to $100 trillion in annual transaction volume by 2030 • Bank token volumes projected above $100 trillion-potentially exceeding stablecoins despite lower issuance • 90% USD-denominated stablecoin market expected,reinforcing dollar dominance • $1+ trillion in incremental US Treasury demand from stablecoin reserves by 2030 ↳ Three insights reshaping the industry: 1/ No Format Wars – Multi-Rail Coexistence • Stablecoins, tokenized deposits, deposit tokens, and CBDCs will all flourish simultaneously • Different formats solve for different needs: trust vs. accessibility, privacy vs. transparency • Institutional adoption currently at 0.5 on a 0-10 scale – massive headroom remains 2/ The Narrow Banking 2.0 Question • Deposit disintermediation risk mirrors 1980s money market fund disruption • U.S. bank deposits dropped from 23.8% to 18.8% of household assets (1980-1991) as MMFs grew • Critical dependency on WHERE reserves are held: central bank vs. commercial bank deposits • Reserve-backed stablecoins could constrain credit creation during transition phase 3/ Infrastructure Race Accelerating • Wave of new Layer-1 blockchains-Circle,Stripe, Bitfinex, Tether,Alchemy Pay • Payment networks integrating stablecoin settlement (Visa velocity data shows 2x growth YoY) • Hong Kong, UAE, Japan, UK all launching domestic stablecoin frameworks • Banks moving $5-10 trillion daily TODAY – on-chain volumes still represent early innings ↳ My Take: 1/ This isn't disruption, it's infrastructure evolution. PayPal didn't kill banks in 2000s – it integrated. Same pattern here. 2/ The corporate treasury gap is real. Large enterprises already enjoy preferential terms, real-time liquidity, and credit lines. Bank tokens with embedded trust will win institutional flows. 3/ SMBs and frontier markets see transformational impact. When you're paying 6% fees and waiting 3-5 days for cross-border settlement, stablecoins aren't incremental – they're game-changing. 4/ Privacy remains the critical unsolved problem. Zero-knowledge proofs and shielded pools show promise, but we're 2-3 years from enterprise-grade privacy on public chains. Until then, private/hybrid chains dominate institutional use cases. 5/ The velocity arbitrage is underappreciated. Stablecoins at 60-113x velocity vs. traditional USD at 50-55x. As real-world commerce adoption grows, expect convergence around 50x – still enabling $100T+ in annual flows. What's your read on institutional adoption pace? Faster than expected or Slower than projected?

Where is crypto going next? Analysis of 1,000+ job postings from 17 crypto unicorns signal evolution from a retail playground and monkey jpegs into institutional-grade financial infrastructure. Here's what the industry is hiring for: 🏦Enterprise roles underscore paths to becoming B2B infrastructure ↳Enterprise product teams: CoinTracker building "0-1 initiative" for enterprise with dedicated engineering teams ↳ProServ channels: Multiple companies targeting CPAs, law firms, and financial advisors ↳Sales armies: Hiring of institutional sales managers across major markets ↳Self-custody infrastructure: Anchorage is developing solutions that let institutions maintain control while using crypto rails 🤝Partnerships become the new moat ↳Banking relationship managers at Bitpanda and Gemini to "manage relationships with global institutions" ↳Partnership roles at CoinDCX focus on "sourcing, acquiring, and onboarding business partners" ↳White-label infra teams at Paxos are building systems to power enterprise stablecoins 🌎Geographic expansion and cross-border frontiers building payment corridors via stablecoins ↳Regional stablecoin teams: Bitso is building dedicated teams for peso (MXNB) and real (BRL1) backed tokens ↳APAC expansion: Nearly every unicorn is establishing Singapore/Hong Kong presence ↳Regulatory navigation: Country-specific compliance roles (Bulgaria for Bitpanda, Australia for KuCoin) enable market entry ↕️Vertical specialization signals maturation as horizontal platforms move into offering tailored, industry-specific solutions ↳Institutional trading: Fireblocks and Matrixport are building specialized prime brokerage capabilities ↳Government services: Chainalysis is creating teams with security clearances for law enforcement ↳Real estate: Multiple companies hiring for tokenized property initiatives 🔒Security & compliance underpin adoption ↳Regulatory strategy roles: Ledger's "Head of Regulatory Affairs Americas" tasked with "influencing favorable digital asset regulation" ↳Fraud prevention infra: Trust & Safety teams at Gemini focused on APP fraud and UK banking requirements ↳Compliance automation: Multiple companies hiring for AI-powered AML and KYC systems The most interesting signal? Most of these roles don't even mention "crypto" in their titles or descriptions anymore. They're hiring for "payment specialists," "institutional sales," and "banking relationships." Crypto is moving from trying to replace the financial system to becoming the upgrade path for it. P.S. CB Insights August launch just 10x'd our hiring insights coverage. Uncover insights about companies’ strategy and product investments based on their job openings. Check it out.

The future of blockchain lies in scalability, where smart contracts can become the backbone of major industries like finance, insurance, logistics, gaming, and more. This article discusses how zk-rollups could be the key to unlocking the full potential of blockchain technology, making it scalable, efficient, and accessible to all. Zk-rollups, or zero-knowledge roll-ups, can enable the execution of smart contracts off-chain while providing a cryptographic proof (zero-knowledge proof) on-chain to validate the correctness of the computations. This solution enhances scalability and reduces the computational load of the blockchain. While zk-rollups might be the key to blockchain's mass adoption, it's crucial to address the accompanying legal challenges. We need a solution that scales the technology but also considers regulatory compliance, particularly in finance and insurance, and navigates cross-border data privacy issues. The enforceability of smart contracts, AML/KYC compliance, dispute resolution, intellectual property, data sovereignty, and liability concerns must all be factored into the equation. What do you think, what legal considerations are most critical for the future of zk-rollups? #blockchain #smartcontracts #techlaw #innovation https://lnkd.in/duax5Evi