A massive leveraged long in the ARC perpetuals market collapsed on Lighter, triggering auto-deleveraging but limiting liquidity provider losses to about $75,000. A big crypto trader lost $8.2 million after a leveraged bet on the ARC perpetuals market unraveled on the decentralized derivatives platform Lighter, forcing the platform to tap its backstop liquidity and trigger auto-deleveraging to manage risk. In a series of posts on X, the platform explained that the whale built a very large long position over several days, pushing total open interest in the ARC (ARC) market to about $50 million, while about 600 traders and market makers took the opposite side. The trade began to fail when ARC’s price dropped around 6:00 pm ET on Wednesday. About $2 million of the position was liquidated on the order book, and the remaining position was moved into Lighter’s liquidity provider pool (LLP), where it was handled under a high-risk strategy category. Read more
CFTC chair Mike Selig said the agency established a prediction markets advisory to help catch insider traders, warning there would be consequences. A former contender for governor of California has been banned from Kalshi after betting on his own candidacy last year in violation of insider trading rules, the prediction market platform said on Wednesday. According to a statement from Kalshi’s head of enforcement, Robert DeNault, the politician bet about $200 on his candidacy for governor of California and posted about it on X, leading to a five-year suspension on the prediction market platform and a $2,000 penalty. Kalshi did not name the politician, but said he is no longer running for governor and is now running for Congress. Read more
Bitcoin markets are bracing for Friday’s $10.5 billion monthly options expiry. Does the data show bulls or bears at an advantage? Key takeaways: Bitcoin bulls need a 9% rally from current levels to take the advantage in Friday’s $10.5 billion options expiry. The 90% correlation between Bitcoin and the Nasdaq 100 Index shows that tech investor sentiment drives market confidence. Read more
The AI and digital marketing company acquired its 7,500 Bitcoin in September 2025, amid a market-wide collapse in Bitcoin treasury company mNAVs. The board of directors for GD Culture Group (GDC), a publicly listed holding company focused on digital marketing and AI, on Wednesday authorized the company to sell Bitcoin (BTC) from its corporate treasury to pay for a share buyback program. The move appears to be a reversal of a May 2025 decision to build a cryptocurrency reserve of Bitcoin and Official Trump Coin (TRUMP). Wednesday’s authorization allows the company to sell the BTC from its treasury in “one or more transactions,” and the company is not under an obligation to sell any amount of BTC, according to GDC’s announcement Read more