Bitcoin (BTC) has gained over 40% in four weeks and is just 10% short of challenging its record high near $69,000. The surge is consistent with the cryptocurrency's record of rallying ahead of and after the quadrennial mining reward halving. That said, bitcoin call-put skews, which measure the cost of call options relative to puts over different maturities, suggest investors' bullish expectations have materialized too soon. Data tracked by Amberdata show longer-duration call-put skews no longer exhibit a stronger call bias than short-duration skews and both have converged at around 5.5%. "This may be due to the heightened speculative sentiment among investors, which has led to a decrease in demand for far-month options. But we cannot rule out another possibility: As prices rise, investors' expectations are realized ahead of schedule, and they are relatively cautious about the possibility of further sharp rises," crypto financial platform BloFin said on X.

Bitcoin's call-put skews. Source: Amberdata, Deribit

Users of Robinhood's wallet can access swaps on Arbitrum in the coming months, the stocks-and-crypto-trading platform announced Thursday at ETHDenver. The two entities will work "to support access to cross-chain swaps and other campaigns that lower the barriers to use Web3 on Robinhood Wallet," Robinhood's press release said. Arbitrum is a layer-2 product, processing transactions cheaper and faster than the Ethereum blockchain. Arbitrum's ARB token surged 11% to $2.08 following the announcement and has since retreated to $1.97.

U.S. SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce said at ETHDenver that the litigious market watchdog is currently operating in an “enforcement-only mode” when regulating the crypto industry. Pierce bemoaned that a regulator needed to attend Ethereum-focused crypto gatherings while stressing the need for crypto rules. “What I reflect is the fact that you all are spending part of your brainpower,” wondering how to avoid getting sued, she said to the conference’s packed main stage. “If we had clearer rules, you could focus on building.”

Bitcoin’s price rally is telling of the U.S. dollar’s relative strength over other fiat currencies.

While the cryptocurrency remains shy of its November 2021 all-time high in U.S. dollar terms, it has already breached records in local currencies around the globe.

Among the countries where bitcoin has hit new highs in local terms are economic powerhouses such as China, Japan, the U.K. and India, as well as developing markets including Argentina, Turkey and Egypt.

- Omkar Godbole