BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) has seen its largest inflow in the past two weeks as traders allocate to US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to scoop up the rocketing cryptocurrency.

IBIT’s May 21 net inflows hit $530.6 million, its biggest single-day net inflow since it took in $531.2 million on May 5, according to Farside Investors. The ETF hasn’t had an outflow since April 9.

In one day alone, IBIT has accumulated over 10 times the amount of Bitcoin (BTC) mined over the same timeframe, with it scooping up 4,931 BTC against just 450 BTC produced for the day.

IBIT also saw its largest volume day since January, according to the ETF tracking X account Trader T. 

“Given trading volume today, expect these inflow numbers to increase,” said ETF Store president Nate Geraci. 

BlackRock IBIT net flows. Source: Trader T

The total inflow figure for all 11 spot ETFs was $607.1 million, with the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) seeing the second-most inflows for the day at $23.5 million. 

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Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas called the ETF inflows a “classic feeding frenzy” caused by Bitcoin’s recent price rally, which has seen it extend to nearly $112,000 in early May 22 trading. 

Balchunas added that the last time ETF trading volumes soared to current levels was in January, around Bitcoin’s then all-time high. “All the Bitcoin ETFs are elevated, most are gonna see 2x their average flows incoming,” he said.

IBIT trading volume surges to January levels. Source: Eric Balchunas 

The big ETF inflow and volume day came as Bitcoin notched a new all-time high above $110,000 late on May 2, and it has continued to rally to a top of just under $111,897 on Coinbase, according to TradingView.

Bitcoin ETF pile in to continue 

Jeff Mei, operations chief at the crypto exchange BTSE, told Cointelegraph in a note that investors are “crowding into Bitcoin ETFs,” which saw $3.6 billion in net inflows in May.

“We believe this trend will continue as long as companies continue to tap public markets for more capital,” he added. “This could even accelerate if the Fed decides to cut interest rates in the coming months.” 

Jupiter Zheng, HashKey Capital partner, anticipated more volatility once Bitcoin breaks above $110,000, telling Cointelegraph that it was “entering uncharted price discovery territory, while unstable geopolitical and macroeconomic factors lead investors to consider the long-term value of Bitcoin.”

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A crypto whale has expanded an existing 40x leverage long Bitcoin bet to $1.1 billion on the decentralized exchange Hyperliquid, which has stunned the crypto community and is believed to be the first-ever position exceeding $1 billion on the platform.

The X account “James Wynn” claims to be behind the position, which is now up $36 million on the trade, data from Hypurrscan’s block explorer shows.

A $28.4 million margin position was used across several trades to increase the Bitcoin (BTC) position, now worth $1.13 billion. The average Bitcoin entry price was $108,065.

Perp futures positions of wallet address “0x507.” Source: Hypurrscan

“He did it fellas,” crypto analyst Sigma^2 wrote on X. “First position [on Hyperliquid] to exceed $1B.”

Wynn’s long position was at a loss of about $16.3 million before it shot back up as Bitcoin broke through $110,000 on May 21. The position sits comfortably above its liquidation price of $103,790, as Bitcoin has well surpassed $110,000 and neared $112,000 in early trading on May 22.

HyperDash data shows the crypto whale started closing some Bitcoin long positions when Bitcoin was trading around $106,000 on May 20.

Change in profit and loss (PnL) from Wynn’s wallet over the last 24 hours. A small amount of that PnL includes a position held in kPEPE. Source: HyperDash

“That mfer has nerves of steel,” crypto influencer Follis wrote, while others called the trader an “absolute mad man” or questioned his sense in making the trade.

Who is “James Wynn”?

Wynn describes himself as a high-risk leverage trader and memecoin maxi who supposedly called Pepe (PEPE) a buy when its market cap was at $600,000.

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The crypto whale started using Hyperliquid two months ago, depositing $4.65 million worth of the stablecoin USDC (USDC) onto the platform, Hypurrscan data shows.

They’ve completed 32 trades since then, which have included long positions on XRP (XRP), the Official Trump (TRUMP) token, Fartcoin (FARTCOIN) and Toncoin (TON).

Hyperliquid’s DEX is the flagship product on the Hyperliquid layer 1 blockchain, which also offers spot trading and borrowing and lending services, among other things.

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Decentralized finance platform Synthetix has axed its $27 million plan to acquire crypto options platform Derive after negative community feedback.

A Synthetix spokesperson told Cointelegraph on May 22 that its acquisition proposal, pitched to its community and to Derive’s, “did not resonate,” and both projects agreed to “step back from the proposed acquisition.”

Synthetix said on May 14 that it would acquire Derive in a token exchange deal, pricing 1 SNX token to 27 DRV tokens, which would value Derive at around $27 million, pending approval from both communities. 

Synthetix strategy lead Ben Celermajer told Cointelegraph that other community concerns were the three-month token lock-up period and the deal’s price, part of which Synthetix tried to address with no lock-up for holders of less than 1 million DRV. 

“While we understand the commercials did not resonate with all community members, a number of holders from both communities believed the deal was fair and acceptable,” he said.  

“However, we acknowledge that the response fell short of expectations, and we have no intention of moving forward with something that was intended to be a collaborative and constructive endeavor.” 

Celermajer said Synthetix will continue evaluating opportunities for building a decentralized derivatives platform on the Ethereum mainnet.

Source: Synthetix

Derive community concerned on deal’s benefits

Derive community members expressed concerns over the deal on the project’s forum, particularly around the token exchange rate and the deal’s overall benefit to the platform.

Derive user “Ramjo” wrote on May 14 that the token exchange rate is “a poor reflection of the value of derive as a platform,” and the “equivalent of selling the bottom and locking in lows.” 

Related: Synthetix founder threatens SNX stakers with ‘the stick’ to fix SUSD depeg

Another user, “AlvaroHK,” called the deal “difficult to justify,” as they claimed that Derive generates more revenue than Synthetix, and there was no clause in the agreement to stop Synthetix from “printing millions of new tokens and keep diluting us.”

AlvaroHK claims Derive generates more revenue than Synthetix, which makes the deal a tall order to justify. Source: Derive

“I have found the guidance that Synthetix plans to issue an additional 170 million SNX to increase its supply to 500 million from 330 million,” AlvaroHK added in a follow-up post.

“Why this information is not disclosed when asked about it? It will dilute an additional 60% off the value of the offer made to Derive,” they added. 

Derive, which Synthetix started in 2021 as Lyra, operated as a decentralized options protocol but remained part of the Synthetix ecosystem.

It eventually rebranded to Derive and took steps to operate independently from Synthetix, such as moving away from using Synthetix’s sUSD stablecoin and liquidity.

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