Key Points:
- Hyperliquid set a new milestone as a whale opened a $1.1B BTC long at 40x leverage.
- The position accounts for 1.25% of global crypto futures open interest, highlighting its size.
- Despite a temporary USDC freeze on Arbitrum, the trader managed to avoid liquidation.
A crypto whale expanded a 40x leveraged Bitcoin (BTC) long to over $1.1 billion on the decentralized exchange Hyperliquid, setting a new platform record and drawing widespread attention.
On-chain data from Hypurrscan at the time of reporting shows the trade was made with about $26 million in margin across multiple entries, with an average BTC entry price of $108,065. As BTC neared $112,000 on May 22, the position’s value briefly hit $1.13 billion.
Who is the Hyperliquid Whale?
The wallet is believed to belong to trader James Wynn, who claims to have taken the $1 billion position. According to HyperDash, it is now up over $27 million at the time of reporting. Wynn, who describes himself as a high-risk leverage trader and “meme coin maxi,” confirmed the trade via X.
Moreover, this was the first position on Hyperliquid to ever exceed $1 billion.
Wall address based on Hypurrscan’s data –
The position, once down $16.3 million, remains open with a liquidation level near $103,790. While some praised the move, others raised concerns over the risks of such high leverage.
Wynn joined Hyperliquid two months ago with an initial $4.65 million USDC deposit. Since then, he’s taken positions in XRP, TON, TRUMP, and FARTCOIN, among others.
In a post on X, Wynn revealed that he narrowly avoided liquidation after facing unexpected transfer issues.
Wynn’s $1.1 billion BTC long now accounts for over 1.25% of total global futures open interest at the time of reporting, based on aggregated data across major centralized exchanges and Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) from Coin Glass. The size of the position highlights the growing influence of decentralized platforms like Hyperliquid in a market still largely dominated by centralized venues.
