An attempt to manipulate the price of the XPL token has been discovered on the largest derivatives exchange, Hyperliquid. As a result of actions by one major user of the exchange, the price of XPL skyrocketed by 200% in five minutes, after which it collapsed back to pre-rise levels. Against this backdrop, four users earned over $46 million. This event was highlighted by Chinese journalist Colin Wu, referencing analyst ai_9684xtpa on social media X.
One of the wallets is allegedly linked to Justin Sun. As noted by ai_9684xtpa, the source of funds manipulating the price of XLP transferred Ethereum to an address associated with Justin Sun five years ago, but there is no direct evidence of the connection. He made about $16 million from the price movement of XLP.
Wu also noted that besides XPL, traders are also targeting other assets, including the token of the World Liberty Financial (WLFI) project, supported by the family of U.S. President Donald Trump. For example, the price difference of WLFI on Hyperliquid compared to Binance is almost 40%. On the former, it costs about $0.34, while on the latter – $0.26 at 11:50 MSK.
XLP and WLFI are not yet traded on spot exchanges and the tokens are not in free circulation. Some exchanges, like Hyperliquid, have launched trading of futures contracts on these assets.
XLP is a token of the Plasma blockchain designed for fast USDT transfers without fees. Among the project's investors is the cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex, affiliated with the issuer of USDT – the company Tether.
This is not the first situation on Hyperliquid where users manipulate asset prices on the exchange. There has been at least one notable incident in the platform's history where cryptocurrency experts pointed out the shortcomings of the platform's mechanisms, as well as the unethical behavior of the Hyperliquid team. Amid the volatility of the meme coin JELLYJELLY, the platform's team unilaterally closed the trading market at a non-market price favorable to themselves.