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Jupiter’s Acquisition Spree, Buyback Plan Spark Solana Ecosystem Dominance Concerns

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Amid a bloody start to the week in crypto markets, which saw liquidations near monthly highs as various major tokens dropped by double-digit percentages, the native token of Solana-based DEX aggregator Jupiter is defying the trend over a new buyback plan.

Data from TradingView shows that JUP is up more than 34% against bitcoin over the past week despite seeing an 11% decline over the last 24 hours, compared to BTC’s near 4% drop.

JUP’s outperformance is a result of a series of announcements made during its first-ever event, Catstanbul 2025, which addressed utility concerns. The protocol’s pseudonymous founder, known as ‘Meow’, revealed that 50% of all protocol fees are set to be used to buy tokens from the open market, with the tokens being moved to a “long-term litterbox,» a long-term reserve.

The move led to a price increase, which demonstrated a “high level of investor confidence in the project and its strategy,” according to Bitget Research’s Chief Analyst, Ryan Lee. He said increasing attention on the platform could attract new users and liquidity to the Solana ecosystem in the long run.

In a statement to CoinDesk, Lee noted the buyback program could “act as a catalyst for long-term growth as the team estimates it could add hundreds of millions of dollars to the buyback volume per year.”

Jupiter is Solana’s leading DEX aggregator, having facilitated nearly $2.2 trillion in total volume over 1.25 billion token swaps, according to data from Dune Analytics. In the last 24 hours, its trading volume was $6.5 billion over 6.9 million swaps.

‘Monopolistic behavior’

The announcement may have helped JUP’s price surge, but it drew some concerns from the community.

Chris Chung, the founder of Solana swap platform Titan, wrote in an emailed statement to CoinDesk that the “news over the weekend that Jupiter – Solana’s most used DEX – is implementing a 5bps fee for basic swap trades in its default ‘Ultra’ mode is disappointing news for traders.”

Jupiter’s Ultra mode is set to include features such as real-time slippage estimation, dynamic priority fees, and optimized transaction landing, all bolstered by a new “Jupiter Shield” security tool. The protocol’s success, Bitget Research’s Lee told CoinDesk, “may come with the risk of centralization.”

“If Jupiter continues to increase its influence and become the dominant player in the Solana ecosystem, it could lead to over-reliance on a single project,” Lee said, adding that the “situation is contrary to the principles of blockchain which are aimed at decentralization and distribution of influence.”

Chung added that Solana’s “entire value proposition is lower cost and higher throughout, and a 5-10bps increase in trading costs is significant in this context. But it’s particularly disappointing when a paid model is being implemented when there is no perceivable performance gain over the previous free version, especially when the features in question are essential in landing transactions.”

Jupiter also announced it acquired a majority stake in Moonshot, the memecoin trading platform that was featured on the website of U.S. President Donald Trump’s memecoin and reportedly “brought 200k+ new people onchain” as a result.

The protocol has also acquired on-chain portfolio tracker SonarWatch, which coupled with the Moonshot acquisition means, to Chung, that Jupiter is “clearly looking to dominate the entire Solana ecosystem,” in a move that’s both “unhealthy and detrimental for innovation and for the user experience.”

To Titan’s founder, Jupiter’s moves amount to “monopolistic behavior” that allows incumbents to “raise prices further and further in absence of competition,” the type of behavior that decentralized finance was meant to eradicate.

Furthering these concerns, Jupiter also announced the launch of Jupnet, described as an omnichain network designed “to aggregate all of crypto in one single decentralized ledger for maximum ease of use for users and developers.” Its public beta version is coming in the next few months.

Although the DEX aggregator’s dominance may have led to concerns over the potential concentration of power in the hands of a single player, it could have a silver lining. Jupiter’s focus on the Solana ecosystem could lead to a new wave of developers engaging with it and creating new, unique products, Bitget’s Lee added.

Mike Cahill, Co-Founder and CEO of Pyth Network’s core contributor Douro Labs, pointed to Jupiter’s moves as a “clear commitment to expanding DeFi infrastructure and improving liquidity dynamics.” The innovation approach, he added, could “push a new influx of builders into the Solana ecosystem, which means we’re going to see a lot of new memecoins and a lot of new dApps as a result.”

Jupiter didn’t respond to CoinDesk’s request for comment at the press time.

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Chart of the Week: Crypto May Now Have Its Own ‘Inverse Cramer’ and Profits Are in the Millions

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Meet James Wynn, the pseudonymous trader on Hyperliquid who became famous for his $1 billion bitcoin short bet, could now be gaining a new kind of fame: as crypto’s own “Inverse Cramer.”

For those unfamiliar with the Cramer lore: he’s the high-octane, loud-money mascot of CNBC’s Mad Money, a former hedge fund manager turned stock picker with a hit-or-miss track record that turned into a meme. Many retail traders started doing the exact opposite of his recommendations, and the idea became so famous that an “Inverse Cramer ETF” was launched (it was later shut down, but the meme lives on).

Now, crypto traders might have found their new «Inverse Jim Cramer» in James Wynn’s trading wallet.

«The winning strategy lately? Do the opposite of James Wynn,» said blockchain sleuth Lookonchain in an X post, pointing to a trader who has been making millions by doing exactly the opposite of James Wynn’s trades.

Betting against James Wynn. (Lookonchain)

«0x2258 has been counter-trading James Wynn—shorting when James Wynn goes long, and going long when James Wynn shorts. In the past week, 0x2258 has made ~$17M, while James Wynn has lost ~$98M,» Lookonchain said in the post.

Seventeen million dollars in a week just by inverse-betting on one trader is not a bad payday. However, this might be a short-term trade, and one should be very cautious as things can change lightning fast in the trading world, leaving punters millions in losses if not hedged properly.

Even James Wynn said, «I’ll run it back, I always do. And I’ll enjoy doing it. I like playing the game,” after the trader got fully liquidated over the weekend.

So, maybe this Reddit gem: «How much money would you have made if you did the exact opposite of Jim Cramer?» would never translate to include James Wynn. But the sentiments, though, are loud and clear: in a market where perception is half the trade, even your PnL can get memed!

A bonus read: Jim Cramer Doesn’t Know Bitcoin«

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XRP’s Indecisive May vs. Bullish Bets – A Divergence Worth Watching

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XRP, used by Ripple to facilitate cross-border transactions, ended May with signs of indecision. Still, activity on the dominant crypto options exchange, Deribit, suggests that bulls aren’t ready to back down yet.

The payments-focused cryptocurrency formed a «doji» with a long upper shadow in May, a classic sign of indecision in the market, according to charting platform TradingView.

The long upper wick suggests that bulls pushed prices higher to $2.65, but bears stepped in and rejected those levels, driving prices down to near the level seen at the start of the month.

XRP's monthly candlesticks chart. (TradingView)

The appearance of the doji suggests the recovery rally from the early April lows near $1.60 has likely run out of steam. Doji candles appearing after uptrends often prompt technical analysts to call for bull exhaustion and a potential turn lower.

Accordingly, last week, some traders purchased the $ 2.40 strike put option expiring on May 30. A put option offers insurance against price drops.

Bullish options open interest

The overall picture remains bullish, with options open interest concentrated in higher-strike calls in a sign of persistent positive sentiment. Open interest refers to the number of active contracts at a given time. A call option gives the purchaser an asymmetric upside exposure to the underlying asset, in this case, XRP, representing a bullish bet.

«XRP open interest on Deribit is steadily increasing, with the highest concentration of strikes clustered on the upside between $2.60 and $3.0+, reflecting a notably bullish sentiment while the spot price currently trades at $2.16,» Luuk Strijers, CEO of Deribit, told CoinDesk.

XRP's options open interest. (Deribit)

The chart shows that the $4 call option is the most popular, with a notional open interest of $5.39 million. Calls at the $3 and $3.10 strikes have an open interest (OI) of over $5 million each. Notional open interest refers to the dollar value of the number of active contracts.

«XRP option open interest is split across June and September expiries, with monthly notional volumes approximating $65–$70 million, of which over 95% is traded on Deribit,» Strijers said.

The bullish mood likely stems from XRP’s positioning as a cross-border payments solution and mounting expectations of a spot XRP ETF listing in the U.S. Furthermore, the cryptocurrency is gaining traction as a corporate treasury asset.

Ripple, which uses XRP to facilitate cross-border transactions, recently highlighted its potential to address inefficiencies in SWIFT-based cross-border payments. The B2B cross-border payments market is projected to increase to $50 trillion by 2031, up 58% from $31.6 trillion in 2024.

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ETH Price Dips Below $2,500 on Whale Exit Fears, Then Bounces Back Above Key Level

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Ethereum (ETH) faced renewed downside pressure in late trading, tumbling below the $2,500 level as selling volume surged and broader risk sentiment weakened. Global trade tensions and renewed U.S. tariff risks have triggered risk-off flows, with digital assets increasingly mirroring traditional markets in their reaction to geopolitical uncertainty.

On-chain data revealed sizable inflows to centralized exchanges — most notably 385,000 ETH to Binance —a dding to speculation that institutional players may be trimming positions. Although ETH has since recovered modestly to trade around $2,506, market observers are closely watching whether buyers can defend this level or if another leg lower is imminent.

Technical Analysis Highlights

  • ETH traded within a volatile $48.61 range (1.95%) between $2,551.09 and $2,499.09.
  • Price action formed a bullish ascending channel before breaking down in the final hour.
  • Heavy selling emerged near $2,550, with profit-taking accelerating into a sharp reversal.
  • ETH dropped from $2,521.35 to $2,499.09 between 01:53 and 01:54, with combined volume exceeding 48,000 ETH across two minutes.
  • Volume normalized shortly after, and price recovered slightly, consolidating around the $2,504–$2,508 band.
  • The $2,500 level is now acting as interim support, though momentum remains fragile with signs of distribution still evident in recent volume patterns.

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