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Asia Morning Briefing: Bitcoin Becomes ‘Generational Asset’ as Speculators Ditch Rolexes

Published

1 день ago

28 мая, 2025

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Good Morning, Asia. Here’s what’s making news in the markets:

Welcome to Asia Morning Briefing, a daily summary of top stories during U.S. hours and an overview of market moves and analysis. For a detailed overview of U.S. markets, see CoinDesk’s Crypto Daybook Americas.

Ethereum surged past $2,600 in early Asia hours, up 3.7%, breaking decisively above its previous resistance level of around $2,500 following a prolonged consolidation period, according to CoinDesk Research’s AI-assisted technical analysis model.

The rally is supported by robust trading volume and significant institutional confidence, underscored by $248 million in net inflows into spot Ethereum ETFs last week, led prominently by BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust. DeFi activity is also strengthening, with Ethereum’s total value locked (TVL) rising 3.59% over the last 24 hours to $64.37 billion, according to DeFi Llama.

However, the rally faces potential headwinds. Ethereum’s active addresses currently sit at 406,180, nearly flat compared to approximately 430,000 addresses one year ago, indicating muted user growth.

Additionally, stablecoin flows reveal mixed signals; traditional stalwarts USDT and USDC remain relatively flat, while emerging stablecoins such as Ethena’s USDe and BUIDL demonstrate stronger growth trends, signaling shifts within Ethereum’s broader stablecoin ecosystem. Despite bullish momentum and strong institutional backing, subdued retail investor participation and tepid user growth suggest this rally could face near-term constraints.

(CoinDesk)

Bitcoin Soars While Luxury Watches Stall: A Pandemic-Era Correlation Breaks Down

Bitcoin (BTC) and luxury watches, once pandemic-era companions buoyed by stimulus and speculative exuberance, have sharply diverged over the past year, market data shows, with BTC surging 56.9%, according to CoinDesk market data, while WatchCharts.com luxury watch index fell by 4%.

As recently as mid-2023, prices for bitcoin and luxury watches moved closely in tandem, buoyed by central banks and governments injecting substantial liquidity into global markets. However, the two have since taken distinctly different paths.

OKX Global Chief Commercial Officer Lennix Lai attributes Bitcoin’s sustained upward trajectory to increased institutional adoption and maturation as a credible asset.

In contrast, the secondary market for luxury watches has cooled significantly from its pandemic peak. “The real collectors stayed in watches while speculators moved on, and bitcoin has matured to take its place in many investors’ portfolios,” Lai said. “Watches make great heirlooms, but I’ll take Bitcoin any day as a generational asset. You can’t lose it, scratch it during a move, or have it stolen, as long as you keep your seed phrase secure.”

Yet, in recent months, the luxury watch market has shown early signs of a modest recovery, posting a 0.3% gain over the last three months.

Jake Plonskier, founder of Watches.io, credits this rebound to external economic pressures rather than renewed crypto-driven speculation. He notes rising tariffs and surging gold prices as key catalysts.

“Gold and silver are decent proxies for the watch market,” Plonskier explained, highlighting Rolex’s January decision to raise MSRP by 14% for its gold models.

He added that crypto’s lasting impact on luxury watches is primarily demographic: «Crypto wealth introduced a whole new market that can afford watches. Now men under 30 can afford Pateks and APs, which traditionally never would have been purchased by this type of clientele.”

(CoinDesk)

Circle Prepares for IPO Filing

Circle Internet Group, the issuer of stablecoin USDC, has filed for an initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker «CRCL,» aiming to sell 24 million class A shares priced between $24 and $26 each, CoinDesk previously reported.

The company itself will offer 9.6 million shares, potentially raising nearly $250 million, while selling stakeholders are providing an additional 14.4 million shares, possibly earning close to $375 million.

Cathie Wood’s ARK Investment has indicated interest in purchasing $150 million worth of shares during the IPO, which is being managed by joint lead active bookrunners J.P. Morgan, Citigroup, and Goldman Sachs.

The IPO filing follows previous unsuccessful attempts, including a failed SPAC deal in 2021 and a brief consideration of a $5 billion sale to firms such as Coinbase or Ripple.

Marathon Digital CEO Says U.S. Government Should Mine BTC

Marathon Digital CEO Fred Thiel urged the U.S. government to start actively mining bitcoin to fulfill President Trump’s directive for a strategic bitcoin reserve, suggesting excess hydroelectricity could support domestic mining operations, CoinDesk previously reported.

Speaking at Bitcoin 2025, Thiel emphasized the necessity of tangible steps beyond the current plan of using approximately 200,000 seized bitcoins from government forfeitures. Senator Cynthia Lummis supports this broader vision through her proposed BITCOIN Act, advocating for converting underperforming government gold certificates into bitcoin to expand the reserve substantially.

However, Lummis acknowledges significant legislative hurdles remain, citing a general lack of congressional understanding about bitcoin and competing priorities such as stablecoin and market structure regulations.

Market Movements:

BTC: Bitcoin bounced back strongly from a correction to $107,604, stabilizing just below key resistance at $110,000, supported by easing EU trade tensions and continued accumulation from long-term investors, according to CoinDesk Research’s technical analysis model.
ETH: Ethereum broke decisively above $2,600 on strong institutional ETF inflows and rising DeFi activity, though flat active address growth could limit further upside.
Gold: Gold currently trades at $3,315.30 per ounce, down 0.77%, as Citi upgrades its near-term forecast to between $3,100 and $3,500 due to ongoing trade uncertainties, while remaining cautious longer term amid expectations of economic improvement and Fed rate cuts.
Nikkei 225: Japan’s Nikkei 225, which opened at 38,003.67 on Wednesday, is forecasted to rise approximately 5% to 39,600 by year-end, according to a Reuters poll, as U.S. trade uncertainties eased, though near-term volatility remained likely, with analysts predicting further gains to 42,000 by the end of 2026.
S&P 500: The benchmark S&P 500 closed about 2.1% higher Tuesday, boosted by optimism over a delayed implementation of U.S.-EU tariffs and improved prospects for a trade agreement.

Elsewhere in Crypto…

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Solana Scores Twin Institutional Wins With $1B Raise and First Public Liquid Staking Strategy

Published

2 часа ago

29 мая, 2025

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Solana’s SOL SOL got a double dose of institutional adoption this week as two publicly traded firms revealed major initiatives centered on the blockchain’s ecosystem — one targeting liquid staking, the other aiming to raise up to $1 billion for direct investment.

Canada-listed Sol Strategies filed a preliminary base shelf prospectus on Tuesday to offer up to $1 billion in securities, including equity and debt, to deepen its exposure to Solana.

There is no immediate plan to raise capital, but the filing provides the firm with flexibility to act quickly on future opportunities. The move comes just weeks after Sol Strategies secured a $500 million convertible note and spent its first $20 million tranche to purchase over 122,000 SOL.

Separately, DeFi Development Corp. (Nasdaq: DFDV) said it is adopting liquid staking token (LST) infrastructure developed by Sanctum, becoming the first public company to invest in Solana-based liquid staking tokens (LSTs).

Through its new token dfdvSOL, the company will allow users to stake SOL with DeFi Dev’s validators while retaining liquidity, enabling participation in DeFi or redemption at any time.

Staking refers to locking up tokens (such as SOL) to help run the network and earn rewards in return. Validators are specialized computers that process and verify transactions to maintain the blockchain’s security and ensure its smooth operation.

The dual moves show growing confidence in Solana’s staking and validator infrastructure among corporate players and could mark the early stages of a broader institutional push toward SOL.

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Ether Only Crypto Major in Green, XRP Muted After Mammoth Treasury Plans

Published

2 часа ago

29 мая, 2025

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Ether ETH led major tokens with a modest gain, jumping above $2,700 early Thursday as broader crypto markets remained range-bound despite a flurry of macro and corporate headlines.

Ether-based spot ETFs recorded net inflows, reinforcing institutional appetite for the asset even as bitcoin BTC flows slowed, traders said.

XRP’s price remained largely unchanged after Nasdaq-listed VivoPower announced a $121 million allocation toward building an XRP-based treasury reserve — echoing a bitcoin-based strategy made famous by Strategy (MSTR) and Metaplanet.

«While US stocks rose after a federal court blocked Trump’s tariffs, Bitcoin slumped after the Fed decided to hold interest rates,” said Nick Ruck, director at LVRG Research, in a Telegram message to CoinDesk.

“These signals could indicate investors remain positive in the long term but are taking risk off from Bitcoin in the short term,» Ruck added.

Meanwhile, bitcoin lost the $108,000 level with overall market capitalization dipping 2.5%. Major tokens cardano’s ADA ADA, BNB Chain’s BNB BNB, dogecoin DOGE and Solana’s SOL SOL were little changed in the past 24 hours.

Outside of the top ten, toncoin TON fell in early Asian hours after a more than 20% surge the day before on reports of a partnership with Elon Musk’s xAI to integrate the Grok AI service within its app.

Musk later said on X that “no deal has been signed,” to which Toncoin’s Pavel Durov said it was agreed in principle but had formalities pending.

Traders enter goldilocks zone

As such, some traders say markets are now entering what some are calling a “Goldilocks zone,” where data remains stable, major risks have been absorbed, and catalysts are pending.

«Volatility across most asset classes has collapsed,» wrote QCP Capital in a note Tuesday, citing retreating yields on U.S. and Japanese long-dated bonds.

“We now find ourselves in a Goldilocks zone: recent data prints remain largely unaffected by the tariff policy introduced last month,” it said. “It will take time for companies and consumers to adjust pricing and spending patterns. Only in Q3 are we likely to see these dynamics reflected in the numbers.”

Yields on 10- and 30-year Treasuries dropped below 4.5% and 5%, respectively, while Japan’s 30-year JGB yield fell under 3%, the firm minted. Despite historic debt levels, the near-term fiscal panic appears to have cooled.

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Bitcoin’s $95K-$105K Range in Focus as $10B BTC Options Expiry Looms

Published

2 часа ago

29 мая, 2025

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Bitcoin BTC options worth billions of dollars are set to expire this Friday at 08:00 UTC on Deribit, making the $95,000 to $105,000 range a critical zone for potential volatility and directional cues.

At press time, a total of 93,131 bitcoin monthly options contracts, worth over $10 billion, were due for settlement, with 53% being calls and the remainder being puts. A call option represents a bullish bet on the market, while the put option offers insurance against price slides. On Deribit, one options contract represents one BTC.

The open interest distribution is such that a large amount of «delta» exposure is clustered at the $95,000, $100,000 and $105,000 strikes. This means traders holding positions at these strikes have a significant net directional risk to bitcoin’s price.

Gamma, which measures the sensitivity of options to changes in BTC’s price, will peak as the expiration nears. Therefore, price volatility could trigger widespread hedging by both investors and market makers (who are always on the opposite side of investors’ trades), further exacerbating price turbulence.

«The largest delta concentration is in Deribit BTC’s May 30 expiry, with $2.8B delta exposure led by strikes at $100K, $105K, and $95K, which has a potential for strong gamma-driven flows into month-end,» decentralized crypto trading platform Volmex said in an explainer on X.

«Any move can trigger aggressive dealer hedging, fragile gamma environment! Expect volatility!,» Volmex added.

BTC's monthly options expiry: Distribution of open interest. (Deribit)

At press time, Bitcoin changed hands at $107,700, having reached record highs above $111,000 the previous week, according to CoinDesk data.

Deribit’s DVOL index, which represents the options-based 30-day implied or expected volatility, continued to decline, suggesting minimal concern over volatility driven by the upcoming expiry.

Volmex’s annualized one-day implied volatility index ticked slightly higher to 45.4%. That implies a 24-hour price move of 2.37%.