Bitcoin rises as oil spikes, equities drop

Derivatives flows showed continued caution: bitcoin and ether puts traded at a premium to calls on Deribit, signaling persistent downside concerns.

“Bitcoin climbed during European trading hours even as U”

@coindesk

That put premium was largely unchanged from last week, and the BTC implied volatility term structure remained in backwardation.

@coindesk

Market sentiment appears to warm toward bitcoin’s practical utility amid geopolitical and currency stress.

Trading firm QCP said in a note on Monday that bitcoin has yet to fully earn its digital gold narrative but its practical use case as a digital escape hatch is becoming increasingly relevant, particularly in Gulf countries amid episodes of currency volatility and political uncertainty.

CoinDesk benchmarks reflected mixed performance: the Computing Select Index (CPUS) rose 2.7% and the Smart Contract Platform Select Index (SCPXC) rose 0.92% since Sunday morning.

Institutional-focused token canton (CC) lost 3.4% and WLD ($0.3652) fell around 2%.

CoinMarketCap’s Altcoin Season indicator sits at 36/100 versus February’s low of 22/100.

CoinDesk Research reported that Pudgy Penguins sold 2M+ units and is using a 'Negative CAC' phygital model to challenge the $31.7B licensed toy industry by treating physical merchandise as a profitable user acquisition tool.