Whale Makes $36 Million on $1.1 Billion Bitcoin Bet

A significant event has unfolded in the cryptocurrency market as a prominent whale executed a $1.1 billion long Bitcoin bet at 40x leverage on the decentralized exchange Hyperliquid. This move has captured the attention of the crypto community, marking the first position exceeding $1 billion on the platform. The whale, identified by the X account "James Wynn," has reportedly made $36 million on this trade, according to data from Hypurrscan’s block explorer.

The whale utilized a $28.4 million margin position across several trades to expand the Bitcoin (BTC) position, which is now valued at $1.13 billion. The average entry price for Bitcoin in this position was $108,065. Initially, Wynn’s long position was at a loss of approximately $16.3 million. However, as Bitcoin surged past $110,000 on May 21, the position turned profitable. Currently, the position is comfortably above its liquidation price of $103,790, with Bitcoin trading near $112,000 in early trading on May 22.

The whale began closing some Bitcoin long positions when the price was around $106,000 on May 20, as indicated by HyperDash data. This strategic move highlights the whale's ability to navigate the volatile cryptocurrency market with precision. The community's reaction has been mixed, with some praising Wynn's nerve and others questioning the risk involved in such a leveraged position.

Wynn, who describes himself as a high-risk leverage trader and a memecoin enthusiast, has been active on Hyperliquid for the past two months. During this period, he deposited $4.65 million worth of the stablecoin USDC onto the platform and completed 32 trades. These trades included long positions on various cryptocurrencies such as XRP, the Official Trump token, Fartcoin, and Toncoin.

Hyperliquid’s decentralized exchange (DEX) is the flagship product on the Hyperliquid layer 1 blockchain, which also offers spot trading and borrowing and lending services. This platform has become a hub for high-stakes trading, as evidenced by the recent $1.1 billion Bitcoin bet. The event underscores the growing interest in leveraged trading within the cryptocurrency ecosystem and the potential for significant gains, albeit with substantial risk.