The Hyperliquid whale who shorted Bitcoin (BTC) revealed X account, dismisses stolen funds narrative

The notorious whale, which could not be liquidated despite a highly leveraged Bitcoin (BTC) short position has revealed his X account. The whale also changed the account handle to MELANIA, while holding a long position for the token. 

The Hyperliquid whale that made over $9M shorting Bitcoin (BTC) on Hyperliquid has revealed an X handle linked to the wallet. The whale now goes under the name MELANIA, with the handle @qwatio, an account dating back from 2014. 

The whale’s wallet was tracked for his enormous leveraged position, which peaked at above $522M. The trader managed to hold the position with just $8.3M in collateral, withstanding attacks by shifting the liquidation price several times. The successful shorting of BTC, while avoiding liquidation, turned the whale into a legend. 

The trader also took risky positions on Ethereum (ETH) and Hyperliquid (HYPE), closing them on time to retain earnings. The whale’s actions reflect the trend for strategic trading, with short-term horizon to avoid liquidations. 

Hyperliquid whale proves identity

The Hyperliquid whale is now pseudonymous, after linking the Ethereum wallet identity to a DeBank Account. The DeBank profile is also identical to that on X. The identity reveal immediately caught the attention of the crypto community, and was linked to a new meme token launch on the Hyperliquid Whale identity. The token was launched independently, and has no connection to the whale. The token traded with minimal liquidity in the first hours after its launch.

To make the identity fully proven, the whale also posted on X with a signed cryptographic message. The whale provided a public address, in addition to a message and signature, that could without a doubt prove the ownership of the wallet. 

The message can be verified through Etherscan, checking out the ownership of the wallet. The whale’s known address, used for DeFi activities, currently holds a minimal balance. The user has wallets on five other chains, each containing a small balance. The wallet is linked to other small holders as first funders. 

The whale’s wallet is mostly used for DEX activities and interaction with DeFi protocols. The wallet’s top counterparties include Stargate, with $115M in turnover, as well as CoW Protocol, Aave, Spark, and Hyperliquid. 

ZachXBT opens investigation on whale’s addresses

The @qwatio account went back to X after a long period of silence, last tweeting about Bitcoin (BTC) in May 2015. The account suggests a long-term engagement with the crypto market, even before BTC and other assets became mainstream. 

The renewed account claimed that none of the funds were acquired illegally. He challenged on-chain investigator ZachXBT, who claims to have evidence of links to hacker wallets. 

The defense of @qwatio was that all wallets have been dusted with funds from TornadoCash or other dubious sources, but there was no real link to stolen or hacked funds. 

ZachXBT claims to have more thorough evidence, which will be released on March 20. 

Message received I will just share the info for everyone in a detailed post on X tomorrow at 1 pm UTC.

It is not baseless speculation I do not spread false information. pic.twitter.com/6I0UvY0rTo

— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) March 19, 2025

The investigator claims the @qwatio account was acquired to fake a long history on Twitter and X. The known wallets have been linked to wallet drainers. The full investigation may contain more connections to shady crypto services. 

The question remains why a crypto criminal would take pains to reveal his identity and start communicating with the whole crypto community. 

Hyperliquid whale calls to long MELANIA

After playing with top assets BTC and ETH, the whale’s next position chose a rather unlikely asset. The whale opened a long on MELANIA for the second time. Previously, a long position had been opened parallel to other risky trades. 

As of March 19, the whale only held a MELANIA long position. The position itself boosted MELANIA, especially after adding social media hype and the identity reveal. 

The long position on MELANIA was at a loss of over $50,000 at one point. However, the whale’s messaging also caused a MELANIA recovery. MELANIA rallied to a one-week high of $0.77, rising over 10% in the past day. After the asset’s expansion, the whale had an unrealized profit of over $212K. 

According to @qwatio, MELANIA may have a chance of flipping Official Trump (TRUMP), if more traders bet on the token’s recovery. The recent narratives around the aggressive trader also showed the meme market had enough energy to react to new stories and cause short-term pumps.

Cryptopolitan Academy: Want to grow your money in 2025? Learn how to do it with DeFi in our upcoming webclass. Save Your Spot