Good Morning, Asia. Here’s what’s making news in the markets:
Welcome to the Asia Morning Briefing, a daily summary of top stories during U.S. hours alongside market moves and analysis. For a detailed overview of U.S. markets, see RialCenter’s Crypto Daybook Americas.
Uniswap’s UNI token surged from $6.00 to $6.65 over the past 24 hours, marking a 5% increase, while the broader market gauge CoinDesk20 Index fell 1.8%. This uptick aligns with Uniswap’s highest monthly transaction volume since February, processing over $73 billion in trades and generating more than $380 million in revenue this year, driven by growing institutional interest and a notable whale re-entering the market by acquiring nearly $4 million worth of UNI.
SCB10X’s New CEO Sees US-Asia Crypto Dealflow, AI Opportunities
Kaweewut Temphuwapat, the new CEO of SCB10X, the venture arm of Thailand’s SCB bank, sees significant opportunities at the intersection of AI, crypto, and Web3. “We’re definitely focusing more on AI and the combination of AI and crypto,” Temphuwapat stated, emphasizing these hybrid investments as being “firmly under our radar.”
He anticipates that clearer crypto regulation in the U.S. will drive increased deal flow into resilient Asian markets, noting SCB10X’s notable early investments in Ripple: “We were early investors in Ripple a decade ago… we’ve utilized that technology in our SCB App for the past five to six years.”
Temphuwapat commended Thailand’s proactive regulators and highlighted the country’s robust payments framework. He foresees Thai banks, including SCB, potentially holding crypto tokens on their balance sheets, starting from regulatory sandboxes: “The intention is there… they’re allowing us to do this on a small scale.”
Trader James Wynn Shifts From Billion-Dollar Bitcoin Bets to Memecoins, Goes Long Pepe
Pseudonymous trader “James Wynn,” notable for significant crypto bets on decentralized platform Hyperliquid, has switched focus from large-scale bitcoin positions to memecoins, recently placing a leveraged $1 million bet on Pepe (PEPE).
Wynn previously closed a massive $1.2 billion bitcoin long position at a loss of $17.5 million before transitioning to a $1 billion short position at 40x leverage, effectively wagering their entire $50 million wallet balance on bitcoin’s drop. That short position briefly yielded Wynn about $3 million in profits, marking one of the largest fully on-chain trades.
Wynn announced a temporary step back from perpetual trading after accumulating a total profit of $25 million from an initial investment of just over $3 million. The trader’s latest high-leverage PEPE position has already appreciated by $500,000 amid a nearly 6% rise in the memecoin’s value.
Strategy Buys Another 4,020 Bitcoin for $427M, Total Holdings Surpass 580K BTC
Strategy (MSTR), the largest corporate holder of bitcoin, acquired an additional 4,020 BTC from May 19 to May 25 for around $427 million, augmenting its total holdings to 580,250 BTC. The purchase was funded through three separate equity programs, including sales of common and preferred stock totaling approximately $427 million.
These latest bitcoin acquisitions were executed at an average price of $106,237 per coin, bringing Strategy’s total bitcoin investment to over $40.6 billion, at an average cost basis of $69,979 per coin. This reflects the company’s ongoing commitment to expand its significant bitcoin holdings through regular capital raises and share issuances.
Market Movements:
- BTC: Bitcoin holds steady near record levels around $109,000, consolidating gains despite tariff-related volatility, as long-term investors continue to accumulate amidst macroeconomic uncertainty.
- ETH: Ethereum remains resilient above $2,500 amid volatility and cautious whale activity, supported by consistent institutional inflows into spot ETH ETFs.
- Gold: Gold slightly declines on tariff delays but maintains above $3,310 as deficit concerns foster a bullish outlook.
- Hang Seng: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng opened lower, trading above 23,304, primarily led by tech sector losses, including a 4.9% decline in Meituan.
- Nikkei: Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.13% Tuesday morning as markets evaluated the tariff delays announced by Trump.
- S&P 500: Closed for Memorial Day.
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