James Wynn Switches Gears to PEPE Long Positions After Suffering $100 Million Loss on Leveraged Bitcoin Bet

$100M Down, $12M to Go: Who—or What—Is “Wynn”?

A trader who just lost $100 million on Bitcoin is now betting big on PEPE. Welcome to crypto in 2025.

The name “Wynn” has become synonymous with outrageous risk. In the span of a week, this anonymous trader has gone from commanding a $1.25 billion BTC position to flipping a $12 million long on one of the market’s most volatile memecoins—all on the decentralized platform Hyperliquid.

On-chain sleuths tracking Hyperdash data watched as Wynn entered a fresh 10x leveraged long on PEPE, acquiring 934 million tokens at $0.0129. The position has already gained over 10%, but that’s small consolation after Wynn’s spectacular Bitcoin flameout earlier in the week.

That trade? A legend in the making—for all the wrong reasons. Wynn’s massive BTC long, built at an average price of $108,243, imploded when Trump’s EU tariff announcement triggered a rapid drop below $105,000. In its wake: more than $100 million in liquidations, including a pair of monster trades worth $55M and $44M respectively.

Now, with PEPE in hand and eyes back on his wallet, the crypto community is asking: Who is Wynn? A gambler who can’t walk away? A market stunt gone viral? Or a Trojan horse engineered to pump liquidity and attention into Hyperliquid?

Whatever the truth, one thing is undeniable: Wynn’s wallet is very real. And it’s giving Hyperliquid a stress test that legacy exchanges would envy. Billions in notional volume, fully onchain, no downtime.

Meanwhile, HYPE—the platform’s native token—is living up to its name. It’s up 20% over the past two weeks, buoyed by the spectacle of Wynn’s onchain theatrics.

Real trader or marketing mirage, Wynn has become the main character of Crypto Twitter. And like any main character, he’s one trade away from either redemption—or complete collapse.