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 โJames Wynnโ claims to be behind the position, which is now up $36 million on the trade, data from Hypurrscanโs 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.
โHe did it fellas,โ crypto analyst Sigma^2 wrote on X. โFirst position [on Hyperliquid] to exceed $1B.”
Wynnโs 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.
โThat mfer has nerves of steel,โ crypto influencer Follis wrote, while others called the trader an โabsolute mad manโ or questioned his sense in making the trade.
Who is โJames Wynnโ?
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.
Theyโve completed 32 trades since then, which have included long positions on XRP (XRP), the Official Trump (TRUMP) token, Fartcoin (FARTCOIN) and Toncoin (TON).
Hyperliquidโs 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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