Major investor expands Bitcoin short via Hyperliquid and exchanges

A large cryptocurrency investor with roughly $10 billion to $11 billion in holdings expanded sizable short positions against Bitcoin this week, depositing tens of millions of dollars in stablecoin collateral on decentralized and centralized trading platforms and opening hundreds of millions of dollars in leveraged bets that signal an expectation of near‑term price weakness. The activity, visible on public blockchains, included multi‑million dollar transfers into the decentralized perpetuals venue Hyperliquid and moves to centralized exchanges that analysts say were used to establish or enlarge short exposure.

Onchain data show the trader placed between $40 million and $80 million in USDC as collateral on Hyperliquid and used leverage to open short positions on Bitcoin totaling several hundred million dollars. One account of the trades indicated a 5x leveraged short of about $420 million funded by roughly $80 million in USDC collateral. Other blockchain records indicate the Hyperliquid exposure at times rose to roughly $735 million. The investor also moved funds to centralized exchanges, suggesting additional short positions beyond Hyperliquid. Traders monitoring the addresses...