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Crypto Twitter was full of discussions of a mysterious trader who opened a 40x short position about a week ago. The community called him a “Hyperliquid whale,” and everyone was guessing who this trader may be. X saw multiple different guesses and there were version that the whale is connected with the Trump family. Other parts of community were uniting to trade against him and make his short liquidated. In the end this mysterious trader got approximately $20 million from highly leveraged crypto positions. ZachXBT made an investigation and seems to have revealed the identity of this risky whale.
How It Started
Between January and March 2025, an anonymous trader executed a series of highly leveraged trades primarily on Hyperliquid and GMX exchanges. Two specific trades, in particular, brought massive attention:
- A significant long position in ETH and BTC. Using a staggering 50X leverage just before former President Donald Trump’s announcement regarding a “crypto reserve,” the whale pocketed a profit of around $10 million through wallet address 0xe4d3.
- A major short position on BTC. With a 40X leverage, another wallet (0xf3F4) whale earned a whopping $9 million.
Digging into the Wallet Connections of a Hyperliquid Whale
Upon making a blockchain analysis, wallet 0xf3f showed links to multiple counterparties, including:
- 0x7ab8c59db7b959bb8c3481d5b9836dfbc939af21
- 0x312f8282f68e17e33b8edde9b52909a77c75d950
- 0xab3067c58811ade7aa17b58808db3b4c2e86f603
- 0xe4d31c2541a9ce596419879b1a46ffc7cd202c62
These addresses connected the Hyperliquid whale to notable platforms like Roobet, Binance, Gamdom, ChangeNOW, Shuffle, Alphapo, BC Game, and Metawin, all well-known crypto casinos and exchanges, some with questionable reputations.
A Web of Illicit Activities: Phishing and Exploits
Further investigation revealed deeper illicit ties. Address 0x7ab was notably used in a January 2025 phishing campaign, serving as a drainer-fee recipient for the phishing site projection.fi. This same wallet directly received approximately $17,100 in January 2025 from another victim’s phishing exploit.
Read Also: The $400M Bitcoin Short: A Whale, A War, And A Liquidation Target
Moreover, tracing back wallet 0x7ab led to Solana-based withdrawals from four online crypto casinos. Upon inquiry, one casino confirmed these funds resulted from an input validation exploit on a gambling game, involving direct negotiations with the exploiter via Telegram (TG ID: 7713976571).
Blockchain sleuths discovered additional clues on social media. The X (formerly Twitter) account tied to wallet 0xf3f appeared suspiciously aged with a recent username change, strongly suggesting the account had been purchased. This account notably followed another user known for promoting crypto phishing scams (@CryptxxCatalyst).
Communication with blockchain security entity @realScamSniffer provided additional evidence, solidifying the phishing connection and highlighting the consistency of illicit activities.
William Parker aka Alistair Packover Is The Hyperliquid Whale
The puzzle came together when a recent payment from wallet 0xe4d3 was traced to an unnamed individual who supplied investigators with a UK phone number. Public records indicated that this number is linked to William Parker, a name with a significant criminal history.
William Parker was previously arrested in 2023 for stealing nearly $1 million from two casinos in Finland. Before his latest alias, Parker was known as Alistair Packover (William Peckover), a notorious figure in early 2010s UK headlines for gambling fraud and hacking charges.
Read Also: Big Bets, Bigger Liquidations: How a Hyperliquid Trader Outplayed the System
The age profiles, geographical locations, and criminal patterns align closely, confirming Parker’s identity as the likely figure behind the Hyperliquid whale.
What Will Hyperliquid Whale Do Next?
Despite past convictions and jail time, seems like Parker has not learned his lesson. With millions in illicit profits, there remains a considerable risk that he may continue leveraging his crypto knowledge for further fraudulent activities.
Currently, the bulk of the illicitly obtained funds resides in wallet 0x51d99A4022a55CAd07a3c958F0600d8bb0B39921, raising further questions about potential movements or cash-outs.
TLDR;
The Hyperliquid whale can be a good example of the risks linked to leveraged crypto trades and the potential for market manipulation. It is also a story that shows us that despite the anonymity that crypto providas, any identity can be defined and revealed.
Here’s a story in brief:
The identified perpetrator, William Parker (formerly Alistair Packover), is a repeat offender previously charged with fraud.
The Hyperliquid whale exploited casino vulnerabilities and phishing scams in early 2025.
Leveraged high-risk trades on Hyperliquid and GMX netted approximately $20 million in suspicious profits.
