Today in crypto, Onchain commodity trading is proving it’s more than a short-term spike, Kalshi is facing another state-level lawsuit after the state of Washington on Friday filed allegations that the prediction market operator violated state gambling laws with its products. Meanwhile, spot Bitcoin ETFs posted $296.18 million in weekly outflows.
Onchain commodity trading is here to stay, but liquidity remains an issue
Onchain commodity trading is proving it’s more than a short-term spike, but limited liquidity continues to hold the market back from competing with traditional venues.
Hyperliquid’s HIP-3 market recorded a new all-time high on March 23, with roughly $5.4 billion in perpetual futures volume across commodities and macro assets. Silver led the activity at $1.3 billion, followed by WTI crude oil at $1.2 billion, Brent crude at $940 million and gold at $558 million. Equity indices, including the Nasdaq and S&P 500, also saw notable volumes.
Industry participants say the spike shows growing demand for macro exposure onchain. “Previously, onchain commodity futures were mostly a venue for crypto-native investors, that is no longer the whole story,” said Iggy Ioppe, chief investment officer at Theo. “The real tell is not just the volume, it’s when the volume shows up and who is showing up to trade.”
Ioppe noted that onchain oil futures markets are now processing more than $1 billion in daily volume over weekends, when traditional exchanges are offline. He said the shift is being driven in part by individual traders from traditional finance, who are accessing these markets through personal accounts. “Geopolitics does not stop on Friday afternoon, and markets are starting to adapt to that fact,” he said.
Kalshi legal woes grow with Washington state gambling suit
Kalshi is facing another state-level lawsuit after the state of Washington on Friday filed allegations that the prediction market operator violated state gambling laws with its products.
The Washington Attorney General’s complaint cites the Pacific Northwest state’s existing ban on online gambling and otherwise strict oversight of the gaming market, in claiming Kalshi violated the Washington Consumer Protection Act, Gambling Act, and Recovery of Money Lost at Gambling Act.
“Kalshi’s website and app show consumers a range of events that they can bet on and the odds for those various events, which dictate how much the bettor will be paid out if the event occurs,” an announcement from Attorney General Nick Brown said. “This is exactly how sportsbooks and other gambling operations function. Kalshi advertises that they allow consumers to ‘bet on anything’ by simply calling their service a ‘prediction market’ rather than ‘gambling.'”
Kalshi immediately sought to move the case to federal court, saying in its filing that the issues raised by the Washington suit are already being litigated in other federal courts and that there had been “no warning or dialogue” from Washington state prior to the lawsuit.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs break 4-week inflow streak as capital avoids ‘directional risk’
Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) snapped a four-week inflow streak, posting $296.18 million in net outflows for the week ending Friday.
The reversal follows a sustained run of inflows totaling more than $2.2 billion across four consecutive weeks, including $787.31 million, $568.45 million and $767.33 million in early March, before slowing to $95.18 million in the prior week, according to SoSoValue data.
The weekly outflow followed back-to-back daily withdrawals on Thursday and Friday totaling more than $396 million, including a $225.48 million outflow on Friday alone, their biggest day of redemptions since March 3, when they posted $348 million in outflows.
Notably, cumulative net inflows into spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs stand at $55.93 billion, while total net assets have slipped to $84.77 billion from over $90 billion a week earlier. Trading activity also moderated, with weekly volume falling to $14.26 billion from $25.87 billion earlier in March.
