Those gains leveled out some by mid-afternoon US Central Time. Worldcoin’s WLD tokens were the tallest green candle for the day on Wednesday, with a 12% daily surge.

Hyperliquid’s HYPE (8.6% gains) and Raydium’s RAY (8% gains) were the second and third most bullish tokens for the day. A few places down on the leaderboard was Fartcoin. Traders probably don’t want their Hyperliquid anywhere near that.

So why was the Worldcoin price pumping on Wednesday?

Why Did Worldcoin Price Pump on Wednesday?

President Donald Trump announced in a press conference on Tuesday that he wants the government to make a $500 billion grant in an AI project led by OpenAI.

Of course, OpenAI is doing more than large language models with ChatGPT. In fact, its Worldcoin project may be more ambitious. OpenAI founder Sam Altman plans to dominate biometrics with cryptographically secured iris scans. The project pays participants in WLD tokens.

On Tuesday, Trump announced he wants the government to invest $500 billion in a new OpenAI project called Stargate, so the artificial intelligence sector can go on a hiring spree.

That statement probably had something to do with this cryptocurrency’s big moves on Tuesday and Wednesday. But investors should be wary about a thing or two related to this trade.

DOGE-Loving Musk Opposes Gov Grant

To begin with, Stargate and Worldcoin are not exactly the same thing, and they are only loosely related through OpenAI. So, an investment in Worldcoin at this time may be more based on the recent news cycle than long-term market leverage.

Moreover, Elon Musk, the key influence in the new White House other than the president himself, opposes the newly announced plans to invest $500 billion in a project led by OpenAI. So, these plans may not come to fruition.

“They don’t actually have the money,” Musk wrote in a post on X. “SoftBank has well under $10B secured. I have that on good authority.” A grant from the White House of that size to a single private company would certainly be questionable on the grounds of government efficiency.

Worldcoin isn’t the only splash the White House has made in cryptocurrency this week. Dogecoin’s price erupted 15% within minutes Tuesday after the website for the Department of Government Efficiency went live. Meanwhile, analysts are rife with bullish Dogecoin predictions.

Crypto trading and lending platform Nexo is set to introduce a $5,000 minimum limit to use its services as the firm evolves into a digital assets wealth manager targeting the mass affluent market.

The move, which comes into effect in February, is part of the firm’s 2025 growth strategy and recent rebranding, according to a press release on Tuesday.

“Guided by principles rooted in traditional finance and the personalized excellence of private white-glove services, we are committed to delivering sustainable wealth solutions for generations to come,” Nexo co-founder Kosta Kantchev said in a statement.

Nexo is one of the few crypto borrow and lend platforms to have survived the bear market of 2022-23, and collapse of many centralized crypto finance firms at that time. Looking ahead, Nexo won an initial approval to operate as a licensed entity in Dubai in March of last year.

Nexo has over $11 billion in assets under management, has issued $8 billion in crypto credit, and paid out over $1 billion in interest, the company said.

[Update: date in story changed to February]

The CME’s staging website indicated that investors could soon access futures contracts for Solana and Ripple’s XRP.

Solana (SOL) and Ripple (XRP) futures trading is set to debut on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange platform on Feb. 10, according to a supposed CME subdomain.

Bloomberg exchange-traded fund analyst, Eric Balchunas, noted that the update appeared on the “beta.cmegroup” website, which stated that the two products were pending regulatory approval.

Fellow ETF expert James Seyffart also emphasized that the news wasn’t shared via official channels, advising caution until the exchange posts confirmation. “Honestly, if this is fake, it’s a pretty good fakeout. I’m waiting for CME to officially confirm this via press release or their actual website though,” Seyffart wrote on X.

Several financial juggernauts, including JPMorgan and Standard Chartered, believe that more ETFs will go live in 2025. Analysts have predicted up to $14 billion in new cash flow into SOL and XRP products if regulators give the green light.

Issuers have filed documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission to bring these products to market, although roadblocks emerged last year. Industry sentiment suggests that regulatory clarity over SOL’s security status will be a deciding factor. However, optimism remains due to a new pro-crypto administration expected under President Donald Trump.

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For crypto to mature fully, regulated derivatives are non-negotiable.

Derivatives already comprise 70-75% of crypto transaction volumes, with institutional players leading the charge. While there is a growing number of regulated offerings, the majority of the volume – about 95% – happens in “offshore” venues, meaning in unregulated or lightly regulated jurisdictions. This exposes investors to risks like market manipulation and fraud, and leaves consumers with a lack of protections.

Luckily, there are a growing number of pathways, particularly in Europe, for crypto exchanges to meet the demands of risk-averse institutional investors whose primary concern is compliance, security and regulation.

What We Can Learn From Market History

Historically, spot markets have served as foundational liquidity sources and initial price discovery venues. As markets mature, derivatives markets often take the lead by incorporating broader information and future expectations. This transition has already been observed in commodities and equities markets globally, signaling a shift towards more advanced trading strategies — a key indicator of a maturing market.

Similarly, in the crypto space, for a mature and balanced crypto market, it is imperative to have access to both spot and derivatives trading. Futures and options will play — and have always played — an essential role in managing risk, hedging and enhancing capital efficiency. They are crucial for attracting sustained institutional participation, allowing capital efficiency and affording a wide array of trading strategies.

However, only regulated exchanges will be able to provide the security and compliance essential for large financial clients. For crypto exchanges to offer E.U.-regulated crypto derivatives like perpetual swaps, getting a MiFID license is a must. There’s no doubt about the growing demand for derivatives — about $3 trillion. MiFID brings the clarity and protections that crypto markets desperately need, giving us oversight that aligns with traditional financial services. This boosts market integrity and helps curb fraud.

Regulated exchanges can attract a wider range of institutional clients with demand for crypto derivatives. And they can become sources of innovation. The growing appetite for sophisticated products like perpetual swaps reflects the maturation of trading strategies, provided they come with oversight. Effectively leveraging these tools is critical to promoting market integrity and creating sustainable yield opportunities.

Managing the Real Institutional Risks

As we have seen in 2024, hedge funds and family offices are diversifying beyond Bitcoin and Ether, increasingly focusing on stablecoins, derivatives and emerging products. These players know that all markets have volatility, and trading comes with inherent risks – and crypto is no different. Rapid market shifts can quickly transform profitable positions into losses. Derivatives, in general, carry more inherent risk than spot markets due to factors like leverage and complexity, as their value is derived from underlying assets.

Access alone is insufficient. While regulated exchanges offer compliant crypto derivative products, they cannot shield traders from potential losses. They can only provide defenses against risky practices, abuses and bad actors.

Compliance is the next essential piece of the decentralized, cross-border landscape of crypto, where regulatory gaps can amplify risks. Regulatory bodies in reputable jurisdictions are implementing stricter standards for platforms offering crypto derivatives, requiring exchanges to register, maintain sufficient capital, and adopt robust anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) practices.

Custody has matured the most since the last bull run in terms of compliance.

Institutions need custodians that combine technical expertise in securely holding crypto assets with rigorous compliance akin to traditional asset management. Leading custodians bridge this gap through secure storage, operational transparency, and robust safeguards, thereby reducing risks associated with hacks or technical failures.

The result has been institutions are gaining confidence in the crypto market now that regulated custodians can align with their operational standards.

The industry must learn from past mistakes. Focusing solely on venues for liquidity that lack adequate licensing in reputable jurisdictions, developed compliance practices and other trust factors can lead to disastrous consequences. Web pages about “Proof of Reserves” mean nothing without other safeguards in place. Global financial audits (preferably from a Big 4 accounting firm), ISO and SOC2 designations are exceedingly important for both institutional and retail users to consider and prioritize when they choose a crypto platform or partner.

Today’s institutional players seek a marketplace that effectively balances spot liquidity with derivatives for risk management and capital efficiency. The complementary roles of spot and derivatives markets can create a stable and growing crypto ecosystem where transparency, security, and compliance facilitate broader participation.

Therefore, exchanges must prioritize regulated products and secure custody if they want to offer comprehensive trading options for institutional investors moving into 2025.