Jan 20, 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 — Cooling CPI Relieves Market

Recent data indicated a stagnation or potential reversal in inflation progress, with a key measure of underlying price hikes — the core Consumer Price Index (CPI) — remaining unchanged for months. However, this trend shifted on Wednesday, as the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a slowdown in the core CPI for the first time in months.

The CPI, which tracks price changes for commonly purchased goods and services, showed an overall increase of 0.4% from November 2024, lifting the annual rate to 2.9%. This rise was primarily driven by surging gas and food prices, with energy costs alone contributing to 40% of the monthly increase. Food prices also remained high, impacted by weather conditions and disease affecting key staples like meat and eggs.

Excluding volatility for food and energy prices, the core CPI only rose 0.2% from November, easing to 3.2% after being stuck at 3.3% since September 2024. Market reactions were positive, as traders hoped the Federal Reserve would continue its rate-cutting campaign.

While inflation has slowed since peaking at 9.1% in June 2022, the journey back to normalcy has been bumpy. Everyday item prices are now 21% higher than in 2021, straining household budgets, particularly for lower-income Americans. Though wages have risen faster than inflation over the past 20 months, they still lag behind pre-pandemic levels.

This latest CPI report, the last before President Biden transitions power to president-elect Trump, underscores the ongoing challenges in managing inflation, particularly for essential goods and services.

Weekly Crypto Highlight — Crypto Cases Drop Before Trump’s Inauguration

Digital Currency Group and its subsidiary, Genesis Global Capital, reached a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday, indicative of a broader trend among cryptocurrency firms resolving regulatory issues as the Biden administration approaches its conclusion. Over the past week, multiple U.S. regulatory agencies — including the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the Justice Department and the SEC — have announced various settlements and charges across at least six cases involving digital assets, signaling a renewed focus on enforcement as the administration winds down.

During Biden's term, more than 100 enforcement actions were filed against crypto companies, reflecting heightened scrutiny of the industry. However, with president-elect Donald Trump set to take office, there’s an expectation of a paradigm shift in regulatory approaches. Trump, once a critic of cryptocurrencies, has appointed crypto-friendly officials to key positions and intends to prioritize legislation that supports the industry.

For many crypto firms, settling with regulators is seen as a strategic move. Legal experts note that such settlements allow these companies to close contentious chapters and redirect their efforts in a potentially more favorable regulatory environment. Jonathan Groth, a partner at DGIM Law, commented on the implications of the incoming administration, suggesting that support for extensive enforcement actions may diminish.

Recent high-profile cases include a $5 million fine against Gemini for regulatory violations and a $100 million penalty for BitMEX due to failures in 

 measures. Additional actions have targeted fraudulent schemes, and individuals involved in illegal cryptocurrency activities. As the regulatory landscape shifts, firms settling with agencies may be positioning themselves for a fresh start under a more accommodating regime.

Advanced

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Weekly Institutional Insights: Cooling CPI Relieves Market; Bitcoin Regains $100K Ahead of Trump’s Inauguration

Dive into HeyAnon, an innovative protocol launched by experienced DeFi builder Daniele Sesta, and merging DeFi interactions with AI agents.

 (DeFi) protocol designed to simplify DeFi interactions. By integrating conversational artificial intelligence (AI) with real-time data aggregation, HeyAnon empowers users to manage DeFi operations seamlessly. From 

 to tracking project updates and analyzing trends, HeyAnon combines natural language processing and actionable insights to redefine the DeFi user experience.

This article explores the emergence of DeFAI (DeFi + AI), HeyAnon’s groundbreaking features and its role in shaping the future of DeFi.

DeFAI is the birth child of DeFi and AI. It represents a groundbreaking evolution in blockchain technology, whereby AI agents are integrated into DeFi. This emerging sector goes beyond traditional AI applications, focusing on automating on-chain activities through autonomous trading agents, abstraction layers and AI-driven DApps.

The term gained traction during the rise of the AI agent meta, beginning with projects like 

 (GOAT), an innovation born from Andy Ayrey’s Truth Terminal experiment. 

This movement has spurred the creation of numerous AI agents and frameworks, eventually pushing the AI agent market to a peak 

 (as of Jan 15, 2025). Despite its overlap with AI agent concepts, DeFAI has carved out a distinct niche valued at $1 billion, emphasizing deeper blockchain integration. 

Unlike early AI agents, which primarily operated as bots posting on social media with limited on-chain utility, DeFAI agents can participate in blockchain activities. This shift indicates the prioritization of tangible applications, such as automated trading, staking and 

 is an AI agent network built to simplify DeFi interactions while providing users with unparalleled access to real-time information. By combining conversational AI with robust data aggregation capabilities, HeyAnon creates a seamless interface for managing DeFi operations.

Designed with user experience in mind, HeyAnon leverages natural language processing (NLP) to allow users to execute complex DeFi tasks through simple conversations. From automating bridging, swapping, staking and borrowing to monitoring market trends, HeyAnon streamlines operations that typically require advanced technical knowledge.

HeyAnon’s strength lies in its ability to aggregate data from diverse sources, such as X (Twitter), Telegram, Discord, GitHub and GitBook. It provides insights into project updates, community sentiment, development activity and price fluctuations, enabling users to make informed decisions with ease.

Essentially, HeyAnon aims to bridge the gap between technical complexity and user accessibility, improving the way we experience DeFi.

, a renowned figure in DeFi and the crypto market. Sesta is widely recognized for his past projects, including Wonderland (TIME), a decentralized reserve currency protocol that made waves during the DeFi 2.0 era.

HeyAnon empowers users to streamline their DeFi experience with the following features, while remaining informed, efficient and in control.

By leveraging advanced natural language processing (NLP), HeyAnon enables conversational interactions for managing DeFi operations. Users can perform tasks such as staking, swapping tokens or borrowing simply by engaging in a natural conversation with the platform. This intuitive interface eliminates the steep learning curve often associated with DeFi, making it accessible to both newcomers and seasoned users.

HeyAnon excels at consolidating real-time data from diverse sources, including X (Twitter), Telegram, Discord, GitHub and GitBook. By aggregating project updates, community sentiment, development activity and market data, HeyAnon provides users with actionable insights at a glance. For instance, it can monitor GitHub commits or X (Twitter) sentiment to keep users informed about a project’s health and progress.

Automation lies at the core of HeyAnon’s utility, simplifying the following complex DeFi tasks.

, in which several innovative projects are also making their mark. Following is an overview of some key players.

 is a prominent competitor that focuses on leveraging AI to simplify on-chain interactions.

 specializes in providing crypto market intelligence and automating the process of tracking market trends and interpreting data. 

 is an AI agent that aims to transform the way users interact with DeFi. It’s developed by 

, a company that builds infrastructure merging AI and blockchain capabilities. Orbit is available on over 100 blockchains, including Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana, and across thousands of DeFi protocols.

The ANON token is central to HeyAnon’s ecosystem, serving governance, community benefits and treasury purposes. As the governance token for the Anon DAO, ANON grants holders voting rights to shape HeyAnon’s development, influence agent skills and determine platform features. Holders enjoy free and/or discounted AI agent services, and can actively participate in shaping the project's road map and priorities.

, ensuring transparent fund use within the DAO’s treasury. Further details can be found in 

HeyAnon is one of the most promising projects in the emerging DeFAI market, combining advanced AI capabilities with actual utility. Its innovative features — automation, cross-chain interactions and data aggregation — could position it as a leader in DeFi and AI innovation.

With a strong team and an experienced DeFi founder in Daniele Sesta, HeyAnon’s road map is set to drive community-led development and enhanced DeFi solutions.

Intermediate

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HeyAnon (ANON): Daniele Sesta’s New DeFAI Platform

Swiss bank PostFinance has partnered with Sygnum to launch Ethereum staking, allowing customers to earn passive income via Ethereum blockchain integration into its e-finance platform.

Daily Top Performer — Morpho Protocol (MORPHO)

The S&P 500 dropped 0.21%, ending a three-day rise, with tech losses offset by gains in utilities, real estate, and industrials. Gold prices rose above $2,700, driven by weak US retail sales, rising jobless claims, and dovish comments from Fed Governor Waller, which fueled expectations of rate cuts. Falling bond yields further supported the uptrend, with gold targeting $2,750. Coindesk Indices, an index measuring broader cryptocurrency market performance was up by 2.10%, with Bitcoin rising by 0.69% and Ether dropping by 3.34%, in the past 24 hours. Trade these markets and more with up to 500x leverage on Bybit MT5 using this 

Today's top performer is MORPHO, which surged nearly 37.1% following the launch of Coinbase's seamless crypto-backed loans powered by Morpho infrastructure.

Morpho Protocol (MORPHO), founded in 2021, is a decentralized Ethereum-based lending platform with a P2P order matching system. It offers customizable markets and Morpho Vaults for various risk levels. Initially launched in 2022 for Aave and Compound, it introduced Morpho Blue in 2024 for flexible lending. Morpho Labs continues to develop Morpho while supporting the original Morpho Optimizers. 

, allowing users to borrow USDC against BTC via the Coinbase app. The product offers competitive rates, flexible terms, and a seamless experience. This move highlights the growing use of Morpho's infrastructure for onchain finance, with more institutions expected to follow suit.

Check Out the Latest Prices, Charts, and Data of 

 with Sygnum to launch Ethereum staking, allowing customers to earn passive income via Ethereum blockchain integration into its e-finance platform. Customers can start staking with a minimum deposit of 0.1 ETH, and rewards will be displayed alongside other crypto assets. The service is currently limited to Ethereum, with plans to expand to other cryptocurrencies in the future.

Yesterday, Bitcoin spot ETF flows totaled $98.2M, driven by $168.2M inflows from non-GBTC products, offset by a $70M outflow from GBTC.

. Wave 1 eligibility is now live, limited to specific Quai Discord roles, with more waves to follow. NFT holders might qualify for allocations, though it's not yet confirmed.

Beginner

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PostFinance Launches Ethereum Staking for Passive Income on E-Finance Platform

Top Hat is an AI-based token launchpad built on the Solana blockchain. Learn about how this project works in this article.

There’s currently a huge demand for token launchpads that allow everyday consumers to create their own 

 plans to meet this demand by pairing classic launchpad design with artificial intelligence (AI) technology. This exciting new product has the potential to make token creation more accessible and convenient than ever. If you're interested in learning more about Top Hat's design, check out this helpful guide.

Top Hat is an AI-based token launchpad built on the 

 blockchain. This user-friendly system requires no coding ability, and allows people to create personalized tokens and 

Not much is known about the team behind Top Hat. The project is a fairly new one, having just started in October 2024 and being made available to the public the next month. As of January 2025, its creators haven’t announced their identities. Instead, all of the communication from the Top Hat team 

 a Twitter/X account. Though this account hasn't revealed much about the creators' motivations or experience, it has disclosed that its team is focused on promoting AI and making Solana development fun and accessible.

Top Hat's goal is to provide the most user-friendly and low-effort experience possible. There’s a huge demand for launchpads, but many companies struggle to create one that can handle all of their potential users. By incorporating AI design, Top Hat hopes to reduce the burden of running a launchpad.

Top Hat’s other primary goal is to create a convenient space for people designing new cryptocurrencies and AI agents. Traditional web3 launches often require users to have advanced technical knowledge — such as the ability to code. Top Hat does away with such requirements, and instead guides users through a convenient interface. AI prompts, simple wording and clear menus make it much easier for the average person to create their own Solana-based token.

Top Hat runs on a Solana base integrated with Telegram, X and other social media sites. Solana is used to manage the cryptocurrency side of the website, generate tokens and keep track of individual transactions. 

Meanwhile, generative AI is used to create social media posts for each AI agent. This allows users' agents to develop their own personalities and socialize with each other. To guide users through the process of making AI agents, Top Hat employs the following mechanisms.

The manual build process allows people to create a customized, blockchain-based AI character. Simply link a Solana wallet, and follow the prompts from Top Hat as it asks for details about your desired personality, culture and goals for your character. A manual build also lets you create a new token and specify details such as token supply.

For those with a less defined concept, Top Hat also features a 

 setting. A user simply inputs their token contract address, and Top Hat's AI system will fill in all the details of the character for them. This can be useful for those who want to work with an AI agent but don't want to spend time designing the agent themselves.

Top Hat's creation options also include the ability to clone a public personality. Instead of defining a character themselves, users can simply enter the X account of a person, and the AI launchpad design will analyze and mimic that person's account. 

In just a few months, Top Hat has launched the public version of its site and acquired over 2,000 users. In 2025, Top Hat hopes to capitalize on its success by launching 

. This new and improved version of the site will include a full rebrand and more features for users to try out:

The HAT token plays a critical role in the Top Hat ecosystem. It's currently the native token for the site. Top Hat plans to add additional utilities in the future, such as fee payments and/or voting usage. The HAT token is 

, and the project’s owners plan to use the resulting revenue to buy back and burn 

There’s a maximum supply of 1 billion HAT tokens and a current total/circulating supply of just under 990 million. Because HAT is meant to be as accessible as possible, it features no predetermined distribution. Instead, anyone who wishes to acquire HAT can buy it directly from the market.

Looking to trade Top Hat tokens? Bybit now offers the HAT/USDT Spot trading pair. To get started, you’ll need to first create a Bybit account, fund it with cryptocurrency and navigate to the 

The Top Hat project is an exciting look at how crypto, AI and web3 technologies can be combined. It's grown rapidly, and has already acquired many users. This optimistic outlook is supported by HAT’s performance. Since its debut, its price has primarily stayed in the $0.05 to $0.10 range. There have been some notable price spikes, and a steady price increase that indicates opportunities for investors to profit. 

HAT certainly has some positive qualities, but keep in mind that this product is lacking in a lot of detail. Without knowing much about the team, or having a clearly defined idea of how the project’s technology runs, it's hard to say whether Top Hat is set up for long-term success. Therefore, it's a somewhat risky investment that investors need to approach cautiously. For best results, HAT should only be a small part of a diverse portfolio. Always 

 carefully before buying cryptocurrencies.

Through the power of AI, Top Hat makes it quick and easy to design custom, blockchain-based agents. These characters are capable of engaging with others on social media and managing complex plot lines. Thus, they have numerous applications for entertainment and meme coins. While Top Hat is still a new project that needs to fully prove its utility, it's already done a great job of appealing to a select group of web3 AI enthusiasts.

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Top Hat (HAT): Solana's First No-Code AI Agent Launchpad

Bybit Trading Bot

Learn how to automate your trades by buying the lows and selling at the high within predefined intervals and price ranges with Bybit's crypto trading bots.

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 are automated computer programs that can help you buy low and sell high — place buy and sell orders at predetermined intervals within a predefined price range — automatically to capitalize on price fluctuations, especially in a volatile 24/7 crypto market.
But how does it work actually and can you really profit more substantially using a grid bot? Here's what you need to know about Bybit's Grid Bots.

orders in either price direction, creating a trading grid of orders waiting to be triggered. When the price hits your preset target, a buy order will be executed, and a sell order will be placed above on the next grid. When the price rises again to the next grid, the sell order will be executed, allowing you to profit from the price difference.

Whether you prefer owning the underlying and taking advantage of the volatility with the Spot market or dabbling with derivatives for increased leverage with the Futures market, Bybit has you covered with our Spot and Futures Grid Bots that will help take the emotions out of your trades and automate the tedious process of manually placing orders.

Suppose Trader A creates a Spot Grid Bot with the following parameters:

The system will calculate the actual amount in base token required to place an order and then automatically buy the corresponding amount of base token needed for the grid trading strategy by placing market orders.

When the grid trading strategy is successfully activated, the orders will be placed as follows:

When the BTC price hits 53,000 USDT, the buy order will be executed, and the sell order at 57,000 USDT will be placed above the next grid. When the price rises to 57,000 USDT, the sell order will be executed, and a buy order at 53,000 USDT will be placed — that is, a grid trade is now completed and profits are made from the price difference.

When the BTC price rises to 57,000 USDT, no buy/sell orders will be triggered. In a one-sided market, the BTC price rises to 61,000 USDT, which will trigger a sell order and place a buy order at 57,000 USDT. 

If the price continues to rise and reaches 65,000 USDT, a sell order will be placed at 65,000 USDT, and a buy order placed at 61,000 USDT.

Your grid bot will only operate in the upper and lower price bounds that have been configured. When the BTC price rises above 65,000 USDT or falls below 45,000 USDT, the strategy will be suspended and no new orders will be placed by the grid bot. 

If the market price falls outside of the price range, you can choose either to close the grid trading strategy to get the most out of your funds or wait for the price to return to the range you’ve set, at which time the strategy will resume. 

— Entry orders will be bought at the market price to ensure the successful execution of the grid strategy.

— Grid trading will be channeled directly through your Bybit Spot Account and Trading Bot Account. 

Grid trading is available for both desktop platform and app versions.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you create your first grid bot on Bybit.

Click on Create to begin the Grid Bot creation process.

 For this specific example, we'll be showcasing how you can create a Spot Grid Bot.

a. Create your grid bot with the following parameters:

b. You can click on Auto Fill to automatically enter intelligent parameter suggestions in your parameter settings. The recommended settings for AI parameters will be based on the historical data of the coin.

Please note that the higher the number of grids, the smaller the price intervals. This also means that your orders may be filled more frequently in a volatile market. However, your profits would be lower due to the multiple trading fees.

: Please double-check the grid bot information you've created, and then click on 

Your grid bot has been successfully created!

, the page will automatically redirect to

 in the upper right corner of the grid bot to enter the

page. More information about your active grid bots, including 

If you want to view your trading history, click on 

It’s important for you to understand how to calculate the profit of a grid trading strategy before creating your grid bot. The following is a guide to help you better understand the relationship between the different variables and the calculation of grid profit and total profit and loss.

Let's run an example to see how to calculate Grid Profit and Total P&L.

Suppose Trader A creates a grid trading strategy based on the following parameters:

Grid profits are realized from the auto buy and sell from the current grid trading strategy.

Grid Profit = Interval × Quantity of base token per grid (Buy Order) × Completed Grid Trade − Trading Fee

Trading Fee = Filled Order Quantity (Buy x Sell) x Trading Fee Rate x Sell Price

When the grid trading strategy is successfully activated, the base token required for the grid trading strategy will be automatically purchased, and the orders will be placed as follows: 

— You can view the quantity of each grid under 

— The quantity of sell orders is different from that of the buy orders due to the deduction of a 0.1% Spot trading fee.

When the BTC price hits 53,000 USDT, the buy order will be executed, and the sell order will be executed at 57,000 USDT, which will be placed above the next grid. When the price rises to 57,000 USDT, the sell order will be executed, and a buy order at 53,000 USDT will be placed. 

That is, a grid trade is completed and earns a profit of 341.81 USDT, based on the following calculation:

Grid Profit = 4,000 × 0.08795882 × 1 − 10.02 = 341.81 USDT

: Trading fee rates used here are for non-VIP users only. To learn more about Spot and Futures trading fees, please refer to 

The total profit is the grid profit plus the profit or loss of the base token.

Total Profit = (Equity of Base Token + Quote Token) − Total Investment

To view the value of the base token and quote token after the grid strategy has been successfully executed, please click on

on the right of the active grid bot column to enter the 

In this case, the position values ​​you can see under 

When the price rises to 57,000 USDT, Trader A's grid trading strategy completes a trade, profiting from the difference between 57,000 USDT and 53,000 USDT. As the price of BTC increases, so does the equity of the base token in your account: 

Total Profit = (57,000 × 0.17574172 + 14,452.26) − 23,610

Please note that when the base token value falls more than the profit earned by the grid bot, it will cause the total profit to turn negative.

Setting Up Your Copy Trade of Grid Trading

Leaderboard Explained: You can copy grid trading strategies by following the top-performing traders on the Grid Bot leaderboard. There are the following two ranking lists: 

Grid bots are ranked by total annual percentage rate (total APR), which is the sum of the profit or loss of the base token and grid profits. The rankings show the top ten performing grid bots based on the total APR performance over the past 24 hours and the past 7 days, respectively.

To learn more about how to calculate total APR, please refer to 

Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you create your copy trade order.

: Select a grid bot you want to follow and click on 

: Double-check the order information and click on

— The same trading strategy may not lead to the same profit level, due to different entry prices.

What Is Bybit Trading Bot?

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