Castle Labs Research
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Crypto and Blockchain Reports
October 2026Mapping the Perpetual Trading Ecosystem
A comparative analysis of perp trading venues across design, GTM and microstructure
August 2026Fixed-Rate Lending: Market Structure and Protocol Design
A report on the protocols building fixed-rate and fixed-maturity credit products
July 2026The Verticalisation Thesis: How Blockchain Revenue Models Are Evolving
Covering the expansion of revenue streams by blockchains
July 2026The Renaissance of Onchain Options
Mapping the expansion of options as a trading instrument and the volatility that prices them
June 2026Real-World Assets: Bringing TradFi Onchain
Mapping the Growth of RWAs and Institutional Adoption
June 2026The Full-Stack Privacy Ecosystem
Privacy as Infrastructure for User Protection and Institutional Adoption
May 2026The Vaultification of Finance
The evolution of Vaults as the infrastructure layer of institutional finance onchain
March 2026The Evolution of Commodities
State of Commodities and a Quantitative Analysis of the Growth of these Markets Onchain
Live Data
Crypto Rankings and Trackers, Updated Daily
- Perp DEX RankingsOnchain perp venues by open interest and 24h volume, with a Binance comparison
- Crypto Revenue RankingsBlockchains and protocols ranked by fees and revenue over 30 days and 12 months
- Hyperliquid RevenueHyperliquid's daily, weekly, monthly and 12-month revenue, its sources and the HIP-3 share
- Bitcoin $100K OddsThe chance Bitcoin reaches $100K by year-end, from Deribit options and Polymarket, with the implied price range
- Tokenized StocksThe largest tokenized stocks by market value, by company and by issuer: xStocks, Ondo, bStocks, Robinhood and more
Weekly Research
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Articles & Analysis
Latest Research
Showing 1-25 of 160 articles
Page 1 / 7
- Pearl: The Missing Piece for AI?Deep DivesNoveleader12 Oct 20267 min
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a pivotal technology, and as its use grows, it demands more computational throughput than ever.
12 Oct 2026 · Noveleader · 7 min · Deep Dives
- Onchain Perps: A Study of the Evolution of Design Choices and Growth CatalystsDeep Dives
This excerpt is from our research on Mapping the Perpetual Trading Ecosystem: A Comparative Analysis of Perp Trading Venues across Design, GTM and Microstructure, highlighting the perp ecosystem, including the key growth enablers, the architecture on which the protocols are built, and the GTM strate
8 Oct 2026 · Noveleader · 11 min · Deep Dives
+4Noveleader8 Oct 202611 min - M0: Building the Internet Dollar with Laert SkreliDeFiCastle Labs7 Oct 20261 min
Stablecoins are becoming app-specific dollars.
7 Oct 2026 · Castle Labs · 1 min · DeFi
- On Raydium, Solana, Stocks, and MemesRWAsCastle Labs30 Sept 20261 min
Raydium has been one of Solana's key protocols; its infrastructure is now fundamental to tokenised stocks, which have taken over Solana.
30 Sept 2026 · Castle Labs · 1 min · RWAs
- Putting Tokenised Stocks to WorkRWAsCastle Labs26 Sept 20261 min
Tokenised stocks have crossed $3B, but most of that capital still sits idle.
26 Sept 2026 · Castle Labs · 1 min · RWAs
- Mapping Onchain Options: Exchanges, Binaries and Yield ProductsDeep Dives
Onchain options in three families: Derive and Paradex order books, binary markets on Polymarket, Kalshi and HIP-4, and option yield products from Rysk and Hegic.
24 Sept 2026 · Francesco · 10 min · Deep Dives
+5Francesco24 Sept 202610 min - Inside EtherFi: Growing a Neobank with Mike SilagadzeDeFiCastle Labs18 Sept 20261 min
EtherFi has been one of the fastest-growing neobanks for both crypto natives and retail users.
18 Sept 2026 · Castle Labs · 1 min · DeFi
- Beyond Tokenisation: Making RWAs Useful OnchainDeep DivesFrancesco14 Sept 202610 min
These days, it’s all about RWAs, with a race involving every protocol and ecosystem, rushing to list new assets and boasting about their market size or asset count.
14 Sept 2026 · Francesco · 10 min · Deep Dives
- The Evolution of RWA Trading Onchain: Variational SwapsDeep DivesFrancesco +110 Sept 202611 min
RWA perp volume went from under $1 billion in October 2025 to over $120 billion in August. How Variational swaps compare with perps on funding and execution cost.
10 Sept 2026 · Francesco · 11 min · Deep Dives
- Fixed Rate Lending is coming to DeFi with Bitwise, KPK and Tenor FinanceDeFiCastle Labs9 Sept 20261 min
Today, the lending category has $28.5 billion in active loans, and almost all of that demand comes from variable-rate lending.
9 Sept 2026 · Castle Labs · 1 min · DeFi
- Solving the Cold-Start Problem in Fixed-Rate LendingDeep Dives
This excerpt is from our research on Fixed-Rate Lending: Market Structure and Protocol Design, highlighting new and emerging designs in the category.
7 Sept 2026 · Noveleader · 8 min · Deep Dives
+1Noveleader7 Sept 20268 min - The Expanding Business Model of BlockchainsL2s
Blockspace is cheap and easy to copy, so chains are going after ecosystem and product revenue. Arbitrum, Polygon, MegaETH and Sophon show the two routes.
13 Aug 2026 · Noveleader · 8 min · L2s
+3Noveleader13 Aug 20268 min - The Birth of Bitcoin-Native Finance: Turning Idle BTC into Productive CapitalDeep Dives
Only ~1.5% of active BTC earns yield. How CeFi lending, DeFi and Bitcoin L2s compare on trust, and how Stacks builds BTC-native finance with sBTC and stBTC.
7 Aug 2026 · Noveleader · 14 min · Deep Dives
+5Noveleader7 Aug 202614 min - The Broken Link between Protocol Revenues and Token PerformanceDeep Dives
Crypto protocols made $7.42 billion in revenue so far in 2026, yet PUMP is down 60% since launch despite $315 million in buybacks, and HYPE is up 1,400%.
29 Jul 2026 · Noveleader · 10 min · Deep Dives
+5Noveleader29 Jul 202610 min - The New Security Bar for Onchain FinancePrivacy
Public balances and quantum-vulnerable signatures are the two security gaps in onchain finance. How Starknet's strkBTC handles privacy, compliance and post-quantum risk.
20 Jul 2026 · Castle Labs · 11 min · Privacy
+5Castle Labs20 Jul 202611 min - Prediction markets as option-like instrumentsOptions
Prediction markets work like binary options, down to 300-second expiries. How Polymarket, Kalshi and Hyperliquid binaries compare as option-like instruments.
17 Jul 2026 · Noveleader · 12 min · Options
+5Noveleader17 Jul 202612 min - Putting RWAs to work in DeFiRWAsFrancesco13 Jul 20268 min
The growth of RWAs has led to over $32 billion of assets flowing onchain.
13 Jul 2026 · Francesco · 8 min · RWAs
- Options from a Builder’s PerspectiveOptionsCastle Labs9 Jul 20265 min
A Gap Analysis with Interviews from Rysk, Derive, Panoptic, and GammaSwap.
9 Jul 2026 · Castle Labs · 5 min · Options
- The Rebirth of Onchain Options: An Ecosystem ViewOptions
Options traded over 4x the contracts of futures in 2024. How onchain options moved past DOVs to order books, AMMs, perpetual options and short-dated binaries.
6 Jul 2026 · Castle Labs · 16 min · Options
+5Castle Labs6 Jul 202616 min - Prediction Markets: From Curated Platforms to Open ProtocolsMarkets
Prediction markets grew from about $2 billion to over $30 billion in monthly volume. Why curated Polymarket and Kalshi won, and the open protocols now testing them.
2 Jul 2026 · Noveleader · 17 min · Markets
+5Noveleader2 Jul 202617 min - Composable TradFi: RWAs in DeFiRWAs
Only about $3 billion of the $28 billion RWA market is used in DeFi. How Pendle, Morpho, Aave, Kamino and Fluid use RWAs, and the new redemption tools.
29 Jun 2026 · Noveleader · 13 min · RWAs
+5Noveleader29 Jun 202613 min - Privacy Ecosystem on SolanaPrivacyFrancesco +115 Jun 20267 min
How Solana privacy works across Arcium, MagicBlock, Umbra, Privacy Cash and Hush, with Arcium past 900k computations since February 2026.
15 Jun 2026 · Francesco · 7 min · Privacy
- propAMMs: Better than CEX?L2sFrancesco12 Jun 20265 min
How propAMMs differ from passive x*y=k AMMs, why their fills on Solana landed 0.33 to 1.36 bps from the best CEX mid, and how the model is growing on Ethereum.
12 Jun 2026 · Francesco · 5 min · L2s
- Stacks POX Upgrade: Solving BTC Capital Problem with the Right IncentivesDeep DivesFrancesco10 Jun 20266 min
Over the last couple of years, since the launch of Bitcoin ETFs, BTC has become an increasingly institutionalised and legitimised asse.
10 Jun 2026 · Francesco · 6 min · Deep Dives
- RWAs: A Blueprint for the Future of MantleRWAsFrancesco28 May 20263 min
Tokenised stocks are among the fastest-growing RWAs, with $1.6 billion distributed. How Mantle and Bybit built issuance, trading and redemption onchain.
28 May 2026 · Francesco · 3 min · RWAs
Weekly Newsletter
The Castle Chronicle
Our weekly newsletter on market structure, narratives and what actually mattered this week. Read and subscribe on Substack.
- Citrini Portfolio, Ambire Wallet on phone, PaperTrade, AI money, and Post-Quantum Trade↗
- DeFi Lending Repricing, EtherFi USD, AQAv2 first payment, Monad growth, Derive V3 migration and buybacks↗
- Bitget hack, Ondo Intelligent Portfolio, USDe expansion, Variational TGE, and AQAv2 soon↗
- Kalshi Weekend Run, Zcash NFTs, SEC Exemption, Arc Launch, and Rate Hikes↗
- The CEX Distribution, Standard Reserve, Theorem RWA markets, Pear AP Vaults, and Derive v3↗
- Robinhood Season, Maple New Strategies, Conditional Liquidity in DeFi, and a $320 million white-hat hack↗