The cryptocurrency market suffered a historic crash over the weekend. Suspicions of manipulation quickly arose in the wake of the collapse, following a short position that generated more than $190 million in profits. The trader in question has just done it again…
New manipulation with a $160 million short?
This weekend will certainly go down in the annals of the cryptocurrency sector as one of the most sudden and violent collapses in its history. And for good reason: the equivalent of $20 billion was liquidated in just a few hours on the futures market.
This situation is directly linked to Donald Trump’s aggressive tariff policy. However, it was another issue that quickly caught the attention of the cryptocurrency ecosystem, amid suspicions of insider trading that were difficult to ignore.
Indeed, a newly created account—for the occasion?—on the decentralized platform Hyperliquid managed to pocket more than $190 million by betting on a market decline, even though Bitcoin had just achieved a new ATH a few days earlier. And it seems that its bearish ambitions are not over.
This is certainly what is demonstrated by the $163.6 million short position currently open by the same anonymous trader on the decentralized Hyperliquid platform, with a profit currently estimated at $3.5 million in the event of a further decline in the price of BTC.
250 fewer millionaires on Hyperliquid
The open position involves 10x leverage and will be liquidated if the price of BTC exceeds $123,520. With the price currently hovering around $115,200, this threshold requires a rise of just over 7% to be triggered.
Of course, the opening of this position raises questions and concerns among crypto traders, particularly given the possibility of a further decline destabilizing the market even more. This is especially true considering that the recent crash caused more than 250 portfolios on Hyperliquid to lose their millionaire status.
According to the latest information shared by the Telegram group Onchain Lens Channel, the trader behind these positions reportedly “sent 100 BTC (approximately $11.49 million) to Kraken, presumably to sell them.” These funds came directly from profits made during this weekend’s crash.
At the same time, the Binance cryptocurrency exchange platform is facing criticism following the liquidation of numerous positions due to the depegging of certain assets. As a result, it has just announced a record payment of $283 million to compensate its affected users.
