A crypto whale that placed hundreds of 50x leverage long position bets on Bitcoin and Ether before US President Donald Trump announced a Crypto Strategic Reserve has profited nearly $7 million from the trades.
The whale deposited $5.9 million in USD Coin (USDC) on decentralized derivatives exchange Hyperliquid on March 1 to place the long positions, according to crypto analytics platform HyperDash.
The whale placed their first Ether (ETH) long position on March 2 at 2:49 pm UTC. Thirty-five minutes later, Trump announced the Crypto Strategic Reserve โ nearly immediately causing an explosion in market prices.
Around $4 million was used to create $200 million worth of positions with the 50x leverage. The whaleโs Ether positions from Ethereum wallet address โ0xe4dโฆ02c62โ started closing 16 minutes after Trumpโs announcement, with some speculating whether insider trading was involved.
The whale started closing several Ether long positions shortly after Trumpโs announcement. Source: Source: HyperDash
The first Bitcoin (BTC) long position, however, was placed on March 1 at 10:44pm UTC, when Bitcoin was trading around $86,033. Many positions were then closed between $87,512 and $91,399.
Some of those Bitcoin exit positions came before Trumpโs announcement.
Most of the whaleโs positions have now been closed for a profit above $6.8 million, according to HyperDash.
Profit and loss position for crypto whale behind theโ0xe4dโฆ02c62โ wallet address profit over the last 24 hours. Source: HyperDash
It should, however, be noted that Trumpโs first post about the Crypto Strategic Reserve only confirmed XRP (XRP), Solana (SOL) and Cardanoโs (ADA) inclusion.
Nearly two hours later, Trump confirmed that Bitcoin and Ether were not only included but would be at the โheart of the reserve.โ
Between those two posts, Bitcoin and Etherโs prices were rising, but not to the same extent as the other tokens initially mentioned.
Insider trading? Pundits speculate
The 50x leverage meant that a 2% price fall in Bitcoin or Ether would have triggered liquidation, leading industry pundits to speculate whether insider trading was involved.
The founder and host of The Moon Show, Carl Moon, said: โThis $200 million long on Bitcoin and Ethereum before the Bitcoin strategic reserve announcement, could be the biggest INSIDER TRADE Iโve ever seen.โ
โSmells illegal.โ
One X user suggested that the trader would have longed other tokens had they known about Trumpโs incoming announcement, to which crypto researcher โFatManโ responded:
โI don’t know if it was an insider or not, but it’s also possible for an insider to know the tweet is coming but not know the exact contents of the tweet.โ
Related: Bitcoin price metric hits โoptimal DCAโ zone not seen since BTC traded in $50K to $70K range
The Crypto Strategic Reserve follows weeks of evaluation from the Presidentโs newly formed Working Group on Digital Assets, led by executive director Bo Hines and David Sacks, the White Houseโs AI and crypto czar.
Trump is set to host the first White House Crypto Summit on March 7, inviting industry leaders to meet the Working Groupโs Bo Hines and Trumpโs AI and crypto czar David Sacks to discuss regulatory policies and stablecoin oversight, among other things.
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