Bitcoin whale stashes a staggering $1.1 billion into Hyperliquid exchange, betting on BTC's continued rise

A crypto whale has made headlines by expanding their leveraged Bitcoin position to a staggering $1.1 billion on the decentralized exchange Hyperliquid.

A crypto whale has expanded a leveraged Bitcoin position to over $1.1 billion on decentralized exchange Hyperliquid, marking the first time a position of such magnitude has been opened on the platform.

The trader, whose wallet address begins with “0x507” and is believed to be an account named “James Wynn,” placed a 40x leveraged long position betting that Bitcoin's price would continue to rise. They used a $28.4 million margin position across several trades to build the massive bet, according to HypurrScan and HyperDash.

The timing of the trade coincided with Bitcoin reaching a new all-time high above $109,500 on Wednesday. The cryptocurrency has been on a strong upward trend, gaining nearly 25% over the past month.

The position saw extreme volatility during Wednesday's trading. At one point, the trader had paper gains of $17 million before seeing those profits erased and temporarily turning into a $15.6 million loss as Bitcoin's price fluctuated. The multi-million dollar swing took place in less than two hours.

The position is now profitable with gains of approximately $36 million as Bitcoin surpassed $110,000 in early trading on May 22. The average entry price for the position stands at $108,065.

The trader's liquidation price, which would force the position to close automatically, is around $103,800. With Bitcoin trading well above this level, the position appears relatively safe for now, although cryptocurrency markets are renowned for their volatility.

On social media platform X, crypto analyst SigmaSquared linked the wallet address to JamesWynnReal, who describes himself as a "high risk leverage trader" and "meme coin maxi." According to SigmaSquared, the trade began as a $400,000 bet around five days ago, with the trader incrementally adding funds to the position.

He did it fellas, first position ever to exceed 1B$ https://t.co/0qGxkLAoj8 pic.twitter.com/grvqnyEgaY

— sigma^2 (@SigmaSquared_) May 21, 2025

Before this massive Bitcoin trade, "0x507" had already earned millions trading Solana-based meme coins like Fartcoin and Official Trump earlier this month. The trader reportedly made $4.8 million and $6.8 million on these trades respectively.

The whale first engaged with Hyperliquid approximately two months ago, depositing around $3-4.65 million worth of stablecoins into the decentralized exchange. Since then, they have conducted 32 trades across various cryptocurrencies, including XRP, Toncoin, and several meme coins.

Despite their recent success, the trader has also experienced losses. Their biggest setback occurred less than two weeks ago when they lost $912,000 on a Bitcoin trade.

Hyperliquid, the platform hosting this enormous trade, uses its own high-speed blockchain built upon the Ethereum layer-2 network Arbitrum. The decentralized exchange offers spot trading, perpetual futures, and borrowing and lending services.

User activity on Hyperliquid becomes publicly viewable through blockchain explorers, turning large trades like this one into public spectacles for the cryptocurrency community to watch in real-time.

Bitcoin's price surge to new all-time highs above $109,000 comes amid broader strength in cryptocurrency markets. The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization has gained nearly 25% over the past month.