A crypto whale who reportedly made nearly $200 million by shorting Bitcoin and Ethereum just before last Friday’s market crash is back—this time placing another massive $340 million bet against Bitcoin. The trader, however, denies any connection to former U.S. President Donald Trump’s family or claims of insider trading.
According to data from decentralized trading platform Hyperliquid, an Ethereum wallet ending in “7283ae” deposited $40 million in USDC on Monday morning before opening a 10x leveraged short position on Bitcoin worth roughly $340 million. This means the trader is betting that Bitcoin’s price will fall, amplifying potential profits through leverage. Based on an entry price of $116,009, the position has already generated over $700,000 in unrealized gains, but it will be completely liquidated if Bitcoin climbs to a new all-time high of $130,460.
The same wallet drew attention last week for opening massive Bitcoin shorts—worth about $450 million—just minutes before Trump announced a 100% tariff on Chinese goods, a move that triggered over $19 billion in crypto liquidations. The precise timing of these trades has fueled speculation that the trader may have had access to insider information.
Blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence labeled the address as the “Trump insider whale,” while other on-chain analysts echoed similar suspicions. However, no evidence has surfaced to prove any prior knowledge of Trump’s market-moving announcement.
Blockchain data also shows that after last Friday’s short positions, the wallet withdrew $150 million from Hyperliquid and transferred it to another address now holding over $386 million in USDC. Researcher Conor Grogan linked the wallet to a Bitcoin whale who had swapped millions in BTC for ETH earlier this year.
Former BitForex CEO Garrett Jin later acknowledged ties to the wallet but insisted the funds belong to clients, not his personal account. Jin strongly denied any connection to the Trump family, stating, “This isn’t insider trading.”
As of now, Bitcoin is trading around $115,796, up slightly over the past 24 hours but still down 8% for the week following the market crash. Ethereum has gained nearly 4% in the past day to reach $4,284, though it remains down roughly 9% over the week.
