Coin Market

Ethereum open interest hits new all-time high — Will ETH price follow?

Published

4 days ago

March 21, 2025

Ether (ETH) price dropped 6% between March 19 and March 21 after failing to break the $2,050 resistance level. More notably, ETH has fallen 28% since Feb. 21, underperforming the broader crypto market, which declined 14% over the same period.

Despite ETH’s price struggles, Ether futures open interest hit a record high on March 21. This has led traders to question whether large investors are positioning for a potential rally toward $2,400 while also raising concerns about the risks of cascading liquidations due to heightened leverage.

Ether futures aggregate open interest, ETH. Source: CoinGlass

The aggregate open interest in Ether futures rose 15% over two weeks, hitting a record 10.23 million ETH on March 21. Binance, Gate.io, and Bitget collectively dominate 51% of the market, while the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) holds 9% of ETH open interest, according to CoinGlass data. This contrasts with Bitcoin futures, where CME leads with a 24% market share.

Demand for leveraged ETH longs has declined

The increased activity in ETH futures contracts typically indicates institutional investors’ interest, as open interest measures the demand for leverage. However, buyers (longs) and sellers (shorts) are always matched, so an increase in open interest does not inherently indicate a positive outlook.

To gauge whether buyers are seeking more leverage, analysts should compare ETH futures monthly contract prices to spot exchange rates. In neutral markets, these derivatives typically trade 5% to 10% higher on an annualized basis to account for the extended settlement period. If traders turn bearish, this premium would likely drop below that range.

Ether futures 2-month annualized premium. Source: Laevitas

The annualized premium for ETH monthly futures dropped to below 4% on March 21, down from 5% two weeks earlier. This decline in the futures premium suggests reduced incentives for traders to use the “cash and carry” strategy, which involves selling futures contracts while simultaneously buying spot ETH to capture the premium as a fixed-income trade.

Spot ETF outflows and reduced network fees pressure ETH price

Part of Ether’s decline stems from weak demand for US-based Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which saw $307 million in net outflows over the two weeks ending March 20. The macroeconomic environment has also dampened investor confidence, as economists warn of rising recession risks due to global tariff wars, inflationary pressures, and US government spending cuts, according to the Boston Globe.

However, some analysts argue that Ether’s recent price weakness stems from an imbalance between network fees—required to compensate validators—and the interests of decentralized applications (DApps) and layer-2 scaling solutions. This critique was perfectly summarized by Martin Köppelmann, co-founder of Gnosis.

Source: koeppelmann

In a sense, Ethereum’s successful shift to proof-of-stake and the introduction of blob space to enhance scalability through rollups—while significantly boosting the network’s capabilities—are also seen as factors limiting Ether’s price growth. Despite the low transaction costs of its layer-2 solutions, some ETH investors believe they are not being adequately rewarded.

Ether’s price has faced pressure from rising macroeconomic risks, while demand for DApps continues to decline—whether due to increased competition or waning investor interest. Ethereum’s 7-day base layer revenue fell to $605,000 on March 17, a sharp drop from $2.5 million just two weeks earlier.

There is no indication that the surge in ETH futures open interest is driven by bullish positioning. On the contrary, demand for leveraged long positions remains notably weak, suggesting cautious market sentiment.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Coin Market

SEC plans 4 more crypto roundtables on trading, custody, tokenization, DeFi

Published

2 minutes ago

March 26, 2025

The US Securities and Exchange Commission will host four more crypto roundtables — focusing on crypto trading, custody, tokenization and decentralized finance (DeFi) — after hosting its first crypto roundtable on March 21.

The series of roundtables, organized by the SEC’s Crypto Task Force, will kick off with a discussion on tailoring regulation for crypto trading on April 11, the SEC said in a March 25 statement.

A roundtable on crypto custody will follow on April 25, with another to discuss tokenization and moving assets onchain on May 12. The fourth roundtable in the series will discuss DeFi on June 6.

A series of four crypto roundtable discussions are scheduled from April through to June. Source: SEC

“The Crypto Task Force roundtables are an opportunity for us to hear a lively discussion among experts about what the regulatory issues are and what the Commission can do to solve them,” said SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, the task force lead.

The specific agenda and speakers for each roundtable have yet to be disclosed, but all are open for the public to watch online or to attend at the SEC’s headquarters in Washington, DC.

SEC softens on crypto with new leadership

The agency’s Crypto Task Force was launched on Jan. 21 by acting SEC Chair Mark Uyeda. It’s tasked with establishing a workable crypto framework for the agency to use.

The task force held its first roundtable on March 21 with a discussion titled “How We Got Here and How We Get Out — Defining Security Status.”

The SEC will also be hosting a roundtable about AI’s role in the financial industry on March 27, according to a March 25 release.

Join us on March 27 for a roundtable discussion on artificial intelligence in the financial industry. Topics include the risks, benefits, and governance of AI.

More details: https://t.co/ekX2RWp2KQ pic.twitter.com/7fH3j1tlwj

— U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (@SECGov) March 25, 2025

The roundtable will discuss the risks, benefits, and governance of AI in the financial industry, with Uyeda, Peirce and fellow SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw slated to speak.

Under the Trump administration, the SEC has slowly been walking back its hardline stance toward crypto forged under former SEC Chair Gary Gensler.

The regulator has dismissed a growing number of enforcement actions against crypto firms it launched under Gensler.

Uyeda, who took the reins after Gensler resigned on Jan. 20, flagged plans on March 17 to scrap a rule proposed under the Biden administration that would tighten crypto custody standards for investment advisers.

Uyeda also said in a March 10 speech that he had asked SEC staff for options to abandon part of proposed changes that would expand regulation of alternative trading systems to include crypto firms, requiring them to register as exchanges.

Magazine: SEC’s U-turn on crypto leaves key questions unanswered

Coin Market

North Carolina bills would add crypto to state’s retirement system

Published

2 minutes ago

March 26, 2025

North Carolina lawmakers have introduced bills in the House and Senate that could see the state’s treasurer allocate up to 5% of various state retirement funds into cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.

The Investment Modernization Act (House Bill 506), introduced by Representative Brenden Jones on March 24, would create an independent investment authority under the state’s Treasury to determine which digital assets could be suitable for inclusion into the state retirement funds.

An identical bill, the State Investment Modernization Act (Senate Bill 709), was introduced into the state’s Senate on March 25.

The bills define a digital asset as a cryptocurrency, stablecoin, non-fungible token (NFT), or any other asset that is electronic in nature that confers economic, proprietary or access rights.

The North Carolina bills don’t set market cap criteria for digital assets, unlike other crypto bills that are working their way into law at the state level.

Source: Bitcoin Laws

The newly created agency, dubbed the North Carolina Investment Authority, would, however, need to carefully weigh the risk and reward profile of each digital asset and ensure the funds are maintained in a secure custody solution.

Bitcoin legislation tracker Bitcoin Laws noted on X that House Bill 506 wasn’t drafted as a Bitcoin reserve bill as it does not mandate the investment authority to hold Bitcoin (BTC) — or any digital asset — over the long term.

North Carolina wants in on Bitcoin bill race

On March 18, North Carolina senators introduced the Bitcoin Reserve and Investment Act (Senate Bill 327), which calls for the treasurer to allocate up to 10% of public funds specifically into Bitcoin.

The bill — introduced by Republicans Todd Johnson, Brad Overcash and Timothy Moffitt — aims to leverage Bitcoin investment as a “financial innovation strategy” to strengthen North Carolina’s economic standing.

The treasurer would need to ensure that the Bitcoin is stored in a multi-signature cold storage wallet, and the BTC could only be liquidated during a “severe financial crisis,” with approval from two-thirds of North Carolina’s General Assembly.

The bill would also create a Bitcoin Economic Advisory Board to oversee the reserve’s management.

According to Bitcoin Law, 41 Bitcoin reserve bills have been introduced at the state level in 23 states, and 35 of those 41 bills remain live.

Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to create a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a Digital Asset Stockpile, both of which will initially use cryptocurrency forfeited in government criminal cases.

Magazine: What are native rollups? Full guide to Ethereum’s latest innovation

Coin Market

IMX surges 15% after Immutable says SEC ended probe

Published

2 minutes ago

March 26, 2025

The token tied to the crypto gaming giant Immutable surged 15% in the hours after it announced that the US Securities and Exchange Commission closed its investigation into the firm and would take no further action.

The Immutable (IMX) token rose around 15% on March 25 to reach just under $0.74 shortly after the firm announced that the SEC shut its inquiry without any breach of violations, which Immutable said closed “the loop on the Wells notice issued by the SEC last year.”

IMX matched crypto market downtrend

It is the highest price that IMX has reached since March 3, before a broader market decline — driven by prolonged uncertainty over US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and US interest rates — pushed it down to $0.46 on March 11.

At the time of publication, IMX had retraced back to $0.67, according to CoinMarketCap. A move back toward $0.70 would wipe approximately $449,500 in short positions, according to CoinGlass data.

IMX is up 0.34% over the past 30 days. Source: CoinMarketCap

While the token price surged on the positive news, it barely moved when Immutable announced in November it had been issued a Wells notice. However, the broader market was already gaining momentum as Trump’s odds to win the election looked strong in the days before his eventual win on Nov. 5.

Immutable co-founder Robbie Ferguson said in a March 25 X post that the SEC’s dropped investigation was “an enormous win for Web3 gaming.”

“After a year of fighting, this threat to digital ownership rights has finally been put to rest,” Ferguson said.

Among the top gaming crypto tokens by market cap, several have seen an upswing over the past 24 hours. Gala (GALA) is up 2.78%, The Sandbox (SAND) is up 3.78%, FLOKI (FLOKI) is up 1.91%, and Axie Infinity (AXS) is up 1.50%.

IMX hit its all-time high of $9.32 in November 2021 during a major rally in gaming tokens. There’s been speculation about when gaming tokens will experience another significant uptrend, as they’ve historically surged after the broader crypto market moves first.

However, over the past 30 days, the total market cap of gaming tokens has dropped 3.65% to $13.13 billion, while trading volume has taken a bigger hit, falling 33.45% to $1.75 billion.

Magazine: What are native rollups? Full guide to Ethereum’s latest innovation

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.