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.

Bitcoin BTC is trading above $105K as Asia begins its business week. The world’s largest digital asset remained relatively stable over the weekend, with a 0.4% movement, and trading volume was compressed.

While overall market conditions remain bullish, a new report from CryptoQuant suggests that certain metrics indicate the BTC market is “overheating.”

The report shows bitcoin demand has climbed to 229,000 BTC over the past 30 days, approaching the December 2024 peak of 279,000 BTC. At the same time, whale-held balances have risen by 2.8 percent, a pace that often signals slowing accumulation.

These indicators suggest the current rally, which pushed prices to a record $112,000, may be nearing a short-term top.

The report highlights $120,000 as the next major resistance level, tied to the upper band of the Traders’ On-chain Realized Price, where unrealized profits would hit 40 percent, a threshold that has historically marked local tops.

While CryptoQuant’s «Bull Score Index» remains strong at 80, signaling continued bullish momentum, rising profit margins, and peaking demand growth suggest traders may face a period of consolidation before the next leg higher.

News Roundup:

James Wynn Gets Liquidated, But Says He’ll ‘Run it All Back’

James Wynn, a trader renowned for his aggressive, high-leverage bets on Hyperliquid, has been fully liquidated, leaving him with just $23 in his account after sustaining losses totaling more than $17 million, CoinDesk previously reported.

Wynn, who attracted significant attention with trades involving bitcoin, memecoins like PEPE, and even obscure tokens such as FARTCOIN, first faced steep declines from a massive $1.25 billion long position on BTC, resulting in a loss exceeding $37 million after prices dipped below $105,000 amid geopolitical turmoil.

Throughout the volatile month, Wynn rapidly cycled through trades, briefly netting an unrealized gain of $85 million before market swings wiped him out completely. An account associated with Wynn downplayed the dramatic liquidation, defiantly stating on X: «I’ll run it back, I always do. And I’ll enjoy doing it. I like playing the game. I took a large and calculated bet at making billions.»

Brazil’s Méliuz Shares Sink 8% After Announcing $78M Equity Raise to Buy Bitcoin

Brazilian fintech Méliuz plans to raise up to $78 million through a public equity offering, intending to allocate all proceeds to purchasing Bitcoin and positioning the cryptocurrency as a primary strategic asset in its treasury, CoinDesk previously reported.

However, Méliuz’s strategy hasn’t impressed the market yet, as shares dropped more than 8% following the announcement. The initial offering includes 17 million common shares, with the potential to expand up to 51 million, and investors will receive subscription warrants allowing future stock purchases at set prices.

Known for its cashback and financial services platform serving over 30 million users, Méliuz currently holds 320.2 BTC, having previously committed 10% of its cash reserves to Bitcoin in March. Trading for the subscription warrants is expected to commence on June 16, with share settlement and warrant issuance finalized by June 18.

NYC Comptroller Rejects Mayor Adams’ ‘BitBond’, Warns Deviating from Dollar Could Undermine City’s Credit Reputation

New York City’s Comptroller Brad Lander sharply criticized Mayor Eric Adams’ plan to issue municipal bonds backed by bitcoin, labeling the proposed «BitBond» as «legally dubious and fiscally irresponsible,» CoinDesk previously reported.

Lander rejected the idea just days after Adams introduced it at a bitcoin conference in Las Vegas, emphasizing that cryptocurrency’s instability makes it unsuitable to reliably fund critical city projects such as infrastructure and affordable housing.

Mayor Adams has actively promoted cryptocurrency initiatives since entering office, including converting his own paychecks into digital assets and establishing a digital asset advisory council.

However, Comptroller Lander highlighted serious practical concerns with the BitBond proposal, noting federal tax laws and city financial regulations would make the proposal unworkable, and warned that deviating from the dollar-based municipal borrowing system could undermine investor confidence and New York City’s credit reputation.

Market Movements:

• BTC: Bitcoin showed resilience, staging a V-shaped recovery between $103,813.37 and $105,305.75 amid notable volume spikes.
• ETH: Ethereum formed a bullish reversal pattern, rebounding from strong support at $2,472.84 to $2,527.53 amid high-volume buying momentum, according to CoinDesk’s Market Insight Bot.
• Gold: Gold climbed 0.6% to $3,311.66, as traders weighed its recent retreat from record highs against ongoing investor and central bank appetite driven by uncertainty over US tariffs and broader economic risks.
• Nikkei 225: Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 0.89% as Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed following Trump’s announcement of increased steel tariffs.
• S&P 500 Futures: Stock futures dipped Sunday to start June after the S&P 500’s strongest month since November 2023, amid uncertainty over President Trump’s tariffs following recent contradictory court rulings.

Elsewhere in Crypto:

• Wintermute warns Pectra upgrade leaves Ethereum users at risk of automated attacks (The Block)
• Here’s What’s at Stake for Crypto in South Korea’s Upcoming Election (Decrypt)
• JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon Says U.S. Should Stockpile Missiles, Not Bitcoin (CoinDesk)
• IMF Raised Concerns Over Pakistan’s Plan to Allocate 2,000MW of Electricity for Bitcoin Mining (Local Report)

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.

«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«

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.

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.

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.