- ZachXBT has strongly criticized the “Hyperliquid whale with 50x leverage” as “a cybercriminal playing with stolen funds.”
- The whale closed its high-leverage position with a $9 million profit despite efforts by crypto traders to liquidate it.
- ZachXBT has previously exposed malicious actors and identified hackers, including those tied to the February 2025 attack on Bybit.
On-chain investigator ZachXBT says the “Hyperliquid whale with 50x leverage” that has drawn massive attention on X is “simply a cybercriminal using stolen funds.”
The comment came after the whale closed a 50x leveraged trading position, realizing a notable $9 million gain.
Despite attempts by members of the crypto community on X to organize a liquidation of the Hyperliquid whale’s position, the trader walked away unharmed.
The Hyperliquid 50x Whale Is a Criminal — Says ZachXBT
ZachXBT shared his view on the matter and clarified who the whale is and is not. He posted his investigative perspective on X:
It’s curious to watch CT speculate about the “hyperliquid whale” when it’s really just a cybercriminal playing with stolen funds.
In response to a user comment, ZachXBT clarified that this criminal whale has no ties to the North Korea–backed Lazarus Group.
Earlier this year, the blockchain investigator linked the roughly $1.5 billion Bybit hack to that hacking group. Some X users asked ZachXBT to identify and report the Hyperliquid whale, to which he replied:
“We’ll see, it’s not fun to publish research on X/Twitter anymore.”
Crypto Community Hunts for the Mysterious Whale
For weeks, the crypto market has been speculating about the identity of the mysterious Hyperliquid whale. A search to unmask the operator, who opened a short position of roughly $450 million in Bitcoin (BTC), intensified on Tuesday.
Amid the rush to force a liquidation, analysts noted that the whale’s 40x and 50x short positions in BTC and ETH were massive. That prompted many traders to try to ruin the position by buying into the market.
According to Lookonchain, the whale had to deposit $5 million in USDC “to increase margin and avoid liquidation.” Nonetheless, the attempt to liquidate the position ultimately failed.
This whale has closed all his positions and made a profit of $9.46M in just 8 days.https://t.co/EtI4kinRNE pic.twitter.com/TPxf6MIIqR
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) March 18, 2025
In addition to the 50x short on Ethereum (ETH), the whale also shorted Chainlink (LINK), opening a large $31 million position with 10x leverage.
The whale has placed short bids on GMX as well. While ZachXBT emphasized that the whale is not tied to North Korea, the incident highlights the ongoing challenge the crypto community faces with malicious actors.
The circulation of stolen funds through decentralized financial protocols remains a persistent problem. The episode also underscores the broader market impact of massive leverage, particularly when criminals use high-leverage trades to stake stolen assets.
Although the specific identity of this whale is of interest across the ecosystem, the bigger question moving forward is how the cryptocurrency industry will manage and mitigate these potentially disruptive scenarios.