Gold Hits $3,500 Milestone as $370M in Crypto Futures Liquidated; WLFI Scrambles to Restore Trust
Gold surged to a record above $3,500 per ounce on Tuesday, highlighting strong safe-haven demand even as bitcoin (BTC) traded quietly near $110,752. Despite the muted spot market, crypto derivatives saw heavy turbulence, with exchanges liquidating $370 million worth of futures positions after downside wagers were squeezed.
On-chain activity showed mixed sentiment. Whale address 0xFf15 sold 425 BTC, worth $46.5 million, in exchange for over 10,500 ETH in recent days, according to Lookonchain. Separately, Glassnode data revealed long-term holders realized profits by spending 97,000 BTC on Friday.
Futures and Options
Liquidations drove a drop in open interest (OI) across most major tokens, except BTC, where OI climbed more than 1%—a sign of fresh inflows. XRP flashed a “spinning bottom” candle, hinting at reversal potential, but perpetual OI in USD- and USDt-pairs fell 5.69% amid weak spot activity.
Funding rates for BTC, ETH and other majors hovered just above zero, reflecting a slight bias toward longs. On CME, BTC futures positioning remained light, while ETH futures held near-record OI of 2 million contracts.
Options markets tilted cautious. On Deribit, BTC puts commanded a premium to calls through December expiry. ETH showed a softer put skew, while SOL and XRP options signaled stronger demand for upside exposure. Block flows underscored defensive positioning, with BTC traders buying $105K September puts and selling $135K October calls. ETH traders lifted puts at $3,800 and $4,200 strikes.
WLFI’s Turbulent Launch
World Liberty Financial (WLFI), the Trump-linked DeFi token, is attempting to stabilize confidence through a buyback-and-burn initiative. Fees from liquidity pools on Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain and Solana would be used to purchase and permanently destroy tokens, reframing supply around engineered scarcity.
WLFI trades at $0.23 with a $6.39 billion market cap, down 24% on the day and far below the $40 billion-plus valuations seen in futures markets before launch. A separate governance proposal would stake 80% of locked supply into pools, distributing rewards from a 20% community reserve. Advocates say it puts idle assets to work, while critics view it as token recycling.
The rollout has been marred by security breaches. Hackers exploited Ethereum’s EIP-7702 delegate contract feature in phishing-style attacks, draining wallets and leaving investors with partial holdings. Security firm SlowMist warned the exploit activates automatically once transfers are attempted.
Phishing links and scam clones also spread across Telegram and X, deepening retail losses. With price collapse, governance disputes and external threats all converging, WLFI faces a critical test of survival in its early days.
