A trader who goes by James Wynn has caught the public eye after making bets worth $1 billion that Bitcoin will reach new heights.
The prominent crypto trader, known for making audacious memecoin bets, has spent the past week putting money into a bullish Bitcoin trade.
While he hasn’t hinted at when he’ll close the positions, Wynn seems to be betting on Bitcoin to climb even higher than the $110,000 record reached on Thursday.
“Bitcoin is dying to breakout higher. My target remains the same of 115-118k by the end of next week. However, could easily happen within a matter of hours even.
I do think once bitcoin will top around 118k-122k and we’ll see a cool off and some sideways movement and then this is where things get really interesting.” Wynn said on X on Thursday.
Wynn’s bets and comments echo those of other market watchers who project the top cryptocurrency to trade higher in the immediate future. Polymarket punters put the chances of Bitcoin hitting $115,000 in May at 64%.
Similarly, Standard Chartered’s Geoff Kendrick predicts Bitcoin will reach $120,000 before the end of July.
Pepe trade
Wynn’s trades have a history of making a splash.
In 2023, he gathered a following by predicting that the Pepe memecoin would achieve a $4.2 billion market value, a gamble he claims saw him make eight figures in profits. By December 2024, Pepe peaked at a market value of over 11 billion.
While it’s difficult to determine the exact amount of money he made from the trade, a wallet that goes by jwynn.eth sent $7 million worth of Pepe to Binance in May 2024.
Wynn opened his Bitcoin bet on Hyperliquid, the decentralised exchange that lets its users trade perpetual futures, which is a type of crypto derivative.
Wynn has $20 million at stake in a highly leveraged Bitcoin trade that has allowed him to borrow money to make a bet that is 40 times bigger than the money he has put into the trade.
If Bitcoin’s price falls below $100,850, then Wynn’s position is at risk of being liquidated. He’s said that he’s willing to put more money into the trade to avoid being liquidated.
The position was worth over $1 billion on May 21, but Wynn has closed a portion of his position, which has pushed the position down to just over $800 million.
“People see the trades and think it’s some high-level stupid gambling kind of thing, and yes it is,” Wynn said on May 21. “But it is backed by my own thesis, which in turn, is a calculated risk.”
Wynn didn’t respond to a request for comment.
