A crypto whale that placed hundreds of 50x leverage long position bets on Bitcoin and Ether before US President Donald Trump announced a Crypto Strategic Reserve has profited nearly $7 million from the trades.<\/p>\n
The whale deposited $5.9 million in USD Coin (USDC<\/a>) on decentralized derivatives exchange <\/a>Hyperliquid on March 1 to place the long positions, according<\/a> to crypto analytics platform HyperDash.<\/p>\n The whale placed their first Ether (ETH<\/a>) long position on March 2 at 2:49 pm UTC. Thirty-five minutes later, Trump announced the Crypto Strategic Reserve<\/a> \u2014 nearly immediately causing an explosion in market prices.<\/a><\/p>\n Around $4 million was used to create $200 million worth of positions with the 50x leverage. The whale\u2019s Ether positions from Ethereum wallet address \u201d0xe4d\u202602c62\u201d started closing 16 minutes after Trump\u2019s announcement, with some speculating whether insider trading was involved.<\/p>\n The whale started closing several Ether long positions shortly after Trump\u2019s announcement. Source: Source: <\/em>HyperDash<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The first Bitcoin (BTC<\/a>) long position, however, was placed on March 1 at 10:44pm UTC, when Bitcoin was trading around $86,033. Many positions were then closed between $87,512 and $91,399.<\/p>\n Some of those Bitcoin exit positions came before Trump\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n Most of the whale\u2019s positions have now been closed for a profit above $6.8 million, according to HyperDash.<\/p>\n Profit and loss position for crypto whale behind the\u201d0xe4d\u202602c62\u201d wallet address profit over the last 24 hours. Source: <\/em>HyperDash<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n It should, however, be noted that Trump\u2019s first post about the Crypto Strategic Reserve only confirmed XRP (XRP<\/a>), Solana (SOL<\/a>) and Cardano\u2019s (ADA<\/a>) inclusion.<\/p>\n Nearly two hours later, Trump confirmed that Bitcoin and Ether were not only included but would be at the \u201cheart of the reserve.\u201d<\/p>\n Between those two posts, Bitcoin and Ether\u2019s prices were rising, but not to the same extent<\/a> as the other tokens initially mentioned.<\/p>\n The 50x leverage meant that a 2% price fall in Bitcoin or Ether would have triggered liquidation, leading industry pundits to speculate whether insider trading was involved.<\/p>\n The founder and host of The Moon Show, Carl Moon, said:<\/a> \u201cThis $200 million long on Bitcoin and Ethereum before the Bitcoin strategic reserve announcement, could be the biggest INSIDER TRADE I\u2019ve ever seen.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSmells illegal.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n One X user suggested<\/a> that the trader would have longed other tokens had they known about Trump\u2019s incoming announcement, to which crypto researcher \u201cFatMan\u201d responded:<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI don’t know if it was an insider or not, but it’s also possible for an insider to know the tweet is coming but not know the exact contents of the tweet.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Related: <\/strong><\/em>Bitcoin price metric hits \u2018optimal DCA\u2019 zone not seen since BTC traded in $50K to $70K range<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n The Crypto Strategic Reserve follows weeks of evaluation from the President\u2019s newly formed Working Group on Digital Assets,<\/a> led by executive director Bo Hines and David Sacks, the White House\u2019s AI and crypto czar.<\/p>\n Trump is set to host the first White House Crypto Summit<\/a> on March 7, inviting industry leaders to meet the Working Group\u2019s Bo Hines and Trump\u2019s AI and crypto czar David Sacks to discuss regulatory policies and stablecoin oversight, among other things.<\/p>\nInsider trading? Pundits speculate<\/h2>\n