Hyperunit whale’s $200M Trump-Tariff windfall turns into $250M Ether loss

The crypto trader known as the “Hyperunit whale” rose to prominence after reportedly making about $200 million by shorting major cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Ether, just ahead of US President Donald Trump’s tariff announcement that triggered the October market crash. The trader has since suffered heavy losses after taking a large long position.

The development came to light after blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence revealed that the whale had emptied its entire ETH treasury into Hyperliquid, resulting in estimated losses of around $250 million.

The hyperunit whale’s loss incident sparks concerns in the crypto industry 

Concerning the hyperunit whale’s trending news, recent reports from reliable sources reveal that the Hyperliquid account has been reduced to just $53, wiping out months of profits. This loss was initially observed after the price of Ether drastically declined this week.

Ethereum remains structurally bearish, with the price reacting to demand but lacking confirmation of a meaningful trend shift. The interaction between this demand zone, nearby supply levels, and persistent sell-side pressure will be critical in determining whether Ethereum stabilizes or continues lower in the coming sessions. Currently, ETH is trading at $2,418.31, down about 10.31% over the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

Following this finding, on-chain analysts issued a warning alleging that the whale was moving into a more risky position at a time when the price of ETH declined across this month. They made this statement after recently released reports illustrated more than  $130 million in unrealized losses.

Initially, the trader drew attention in October of last year when on-chain analyst Eye connected wallet activity to Garrett Jin, the co-founder of WaveLabs and GroupFi, who previously served as the co-founder and vice president of BitForex. Notably, this move was made possible through the use of ENS domains “ereignis.eth” and “garrettjin.eth.” 

Seeing the situation grow intense, GroupFi’s co-founder refused to acknowledge ownership of the funds, claiming he was aware of the person responsible for the trades. To further clarify on this point, Jin argued that,  “the fund isn’t mine – it’s my clients’.” 

Several crypto investors raise concerns about the Hyperunit whale’s move

Earlier in October last year, the whale established short positions totaling more than $1 billion, specifically in BTC and ether. This scenario occurred just before Trump announced 100% tariffs on imports from China.

The timing fueled speculation regarding potential insider knowledge, but no evidence of misconduct has emerged. Afterwards, a significant market crash occurred, resulting in more than $18 billion in liquidations across the crypto industry.

Immediately after this substantial gain, the trader adopted long positions. Following this decision, data from Arkham published in mid-January demonstrated that the whale established a long position on Ethereum worth more than $730 million. At the same time, the total investments in ETH, SOL, and BTC exceeded $900 million.

Nonetheless, the crypto market saw sharp price declines this week, prompting the Hyperunit whale to sell all their holdings. Following this decision, the whale was left with only $53 in their Hyperliquid account, even though data from Arkham showed that the account holds $2.7 billion in other cryptocurrencies.

In the meantime, amid this significant loss in the crypto market, several crypto investors have raised concerns about the risks of leveraged trading, even among market experts.

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