Original Block unicorn Block unicorn June 3, 2025, 16:59 Chongqing Article by: Token Dispatch, Thejaswini M A
Article translated by: Block unicorn
Foreword
From a forgotten little town in the UK, through crime-ridden streets, to the pinnacle of the most adventurous trading in cryptocurrency.
From $7,000 in an unloved meme coin to $25 million.
From a billion-dollar Bitcoin bet that made Wall Street traders weep with envy.
Watching $100 million evaporate in the final liquidation, as the entire cryptocurrency world looked on in horror.
Meet James Wynn—this trader embodies the wildest dreams and the most terrifying nightmares of every 'fallen' individual.
His story began with a TRS-80 computer and a desire born from poverty, culminating in the most transparent trading collapse in cryptocurrency history.
The ending of the story poses a direct question to the core of this industry.
This individual, known as 'moonpig' on Hyperliquid, became a significant lesson to be learned in the cryptocurrency space. Let's delve into the rise and spectacular fall of this fallen king.
The Boy from the Forgotten Town
James Wynn did not come from a privileged background.
According to his own account on social media, he comes from a 'forgotten little town' in the UK—characterized by high crime rates, drug abuse, alcoholism, and extreme poverty.
"I was born at the bottom," he said.
Image source: @JamesWynnReal
This is not the typical Silicon Valley entrepreneur's origin story.
No Stanford MBA, no family connections, and no venture capital background.
He was just a kid 'barely making ends meet' but developed a risk appetite that unsettled hedge fund managers.
When you have nothing, betting everything seems like a rational choice. When survival is your baseline, extreme leverage is just another Tuesday.
Specific details about his early life are deliberately kept obscure—James Wynn has always kept his personal identity secret, using aliases and wallet addresses for trading. But the kind of desire he describes is evident in every trade he made later.
By 2020, he entered the cryptocurrency space.
The first clue emerged in December 2020 when blockchain investigators found he received $6,000 worth of Ethereum from Alameda Research—the now-infamous trading firm of Sam Bankman-Fried.
Image source: @sunil_trades
The exact nature of this funding—whether seed money, service fees, or something else—is currently unclear. What matters is that this funding gave Wynn his initial chips.
Because he was about to turn this chip into extraordinary wealth.
PEPE Prophecy
The trade that made James Wynn famous began out of boredom.
In 2023, as he mentioned in an X post, he stumbled upon something that changed his life while browsing micro-cap meme coins on iToken: PEPE, inspired by the 'Pepe the Frog' internet meme.
At that time, it had a market cap of just $600,000. Most traders didn't even bother to pay gas fees.
But Wynn saw something different.
Wynn began accumulating PEPE tokens with an initial capital of about $7,000, almost unnoticed. Then, he did something to solidify his legend: he made a public prediction.
In April 2023, when PEPE's market cap reached $4.2 million, Wynn claimed it would reach $4.2 billion.
This is a 1,000x prediction. For a meme coin. Based on a cartoon frog.
The crypto world was mocking him. Then PEPE actually developed according to Wynn's prediction.
By December 2024, PEPE's market cap exceeded $10 billion. Wynn's $7,000 turned into about $25 million—over 3,500 times the return.
Image source: @Coingecko
But money is just part of the story. This prediction made Wynn a legend in the meme coin circle.
He was not just lucky—he publicly shared his goals and achieved them.
The community referred to him as the '10U war god'—referring to starting small and expanding to millions. His Twitter followers hung on his every word.
Things started to get complicated from there.
The Dilemma of Influencers
Success in the crypto world brings followers.
But followers also bring responsibility.
And responsibility was never Wynn's strong suit.
By 2024, with the success of PEPE, Wynn began promoting other tokens. His model was simple: find a micro-cap meme coin, accumulate quietly, then promote publicly.
The ELON event defined this phase of his career.
In April 2024, Wynn began promoting a token called ELON, with enthusiasm rivaling that for PEPE. He issued 'crazy orders' and ignited the community's passion. His fans were unaware that he was quietly accumulating vast assets in multiple wallets.
As the price of ELON skyrocketed, Wynn claimed the token had 'issues' and announced he would liquidate. The price plummeted almost instantly by 70%.
Image source: @StarPlatinumSOL
Followers who bought based on his recommendations found themselves holding worthless tokens, while Wynn walked away with profits.
This operation was swift and fierce. The community that once revered him as a prophet now condemns him as a manipulator. The reputation he built on the success of PEPE has been completely destroyed.
Similar allegations followed with other tokens.
BabyPepe: Wynn is accused of receiving 2% of the token supply, promoting it in his Telegram group, then immediately selling for a profit of $68,000.
MOONPIG: He allegedly bought 3% of the total supply, pumped the price through social media, then sold his holdings.
WYNN and ELON Tokens: Despite his support, both tokens plummeted after their launch.
Wynn denies any wrongdoing, claiming he is 'just an investor, not involved in the development or manipulation of the tokens.' But the damage is done.
The god of meme coins has fallen. It's time to reshape himself.
Hyperliquid Era
In March 2025, James Wynn made a defining decision for his legend: he deposited about $6 million into the decentralized perpetual contract exchange Hyperliquid.
This platform was perfect for Wynn's new strategy. High leverage, low fees, and complete transparency of all trades. Unlike centralized exchanges that hide the movements of large holders, every position on Hyperliquid is public.
Wynn was not just trading—he was performing.
From March 2025 to May 23, he executed 39 leveraged trades with a win rate of 43.59%. But what attracted attention was not the win rate but the size of the trades.
His leveraged operations were by no means easy.
He regularly used 40x leverage on Bitcoin and 10x leverage on meme coins, with an average leverage ratio of about 22x. This meant that his $55.8 million collateral controlled positions worth over $1.25 billion.
By May 10, his profits were remarkable.
PEPE Long Position: $23.8 million unrealized profit
Bitcoin Long: $5.4 million unrealized profit
Official Trump: $5.57 million unrealized profit
Fartcoin: $5.15 million unrealized profit
By May 23, his profits peaked at $87 million.
His trading brought Hyperliquid massive fees—over $2.3 million in just two months. Some speculate he was intentionally showcasing the platform's features.
"They want me to trade on ByBit, but even if they pay me $1 million a month, I won't stop using Hyperliquid," Wynn claimed. "I promote my trades partly because I want Hyperliquid to dominate exchange market share because other exchanges are corrupt."
This transparency is intoxicating. This trader was willing to show every single position, every profit, every loss. The crypto world was captivated by it.
They were about to witness history—just not the kind Wynn expected.
The Seven Days that Took Down the King
May 19, 2025. Bitcoin: $103,302.
James Wynn opened a 40x leveraged long position of 5,520 Bitcoin at a price of $103,302, with a liquidation price of $98,294.
In the following seven days, he experienced increasingly desperate trades, ultimately leading to the loss of a fortune and triggering the most public collapse in cryptocurrency history.
Days 1-2 (May 19-20): Wynn expanded his position to 7,764 Bitcoin, with a nominal value of $830 million. His average entry price moved to $105,033, with a liquidation price of $100,330.
Day 3 (May 21): He increased his position to 9,371.71 Bitcoin, with a position value of over $1 billion. The unrealized profit from this trade was $10.71 million, with an average entry price of $108,005. Later that day, he closed 2,139 Bitcoin, realizing a profit of $11.92 million.
Day 4 (May 22): Opened a new long position of 10,200 Bitcoin at $108,065. As Bitcoin hit $111,900, unrealized profits peaked at $39 million.
Day 5 (May 23): The Turning Point. After Trump announced a 50% tariff on EU imports, Bitcoin fell 4% to $106,700. Wynn closed another PEPE position for a profit of $25.18 million and increased his Bitcoin long position to 11,588 Bitcoin, with an average entry price of $108,243. Liquidation level: $105,180.
Image source: @JamesWynnReal
Day 6 (May 24): He closed out at $107,746, losing $13.39 million. Desperate, he went short, expanding his Bitcoin short position to 7,967.83 Bitcoin, valued at $856 million, eventually closing at $111,280.
Day 7 (May 26): The final blow. Wynn closed out a Bitcoin short position worth over $1 billion, losing about $15.87 million in 15 hours.
Total loss over seven days: approximately $65 million.
At his peak, his profits had reached $87 million, now down to about $27 million. But this figure is misleading—as losses are far from over.
Day 8 (May 30): As Bitcoin fell below $105,000, James Wynn was liquidated, losing 949 Bitcoin worth $99.3 million.
Image source: @lookonchain
The reality of his Hyperliquid dashboard—a sea of red liquidation marks—tells the story of his complete bankruptcy. The Arkham intelligence platform confirmed the scale of the losses:
Image source: @arkham
His response?
Image source: @zachxbt
From a peak profit of $87 million to total liquidation. The transparency that once made him famous documented every step of his bankruptcy for the world to see.
Hunting Season
Perhaps the most brutal aspect of Wynn's collapse is that it was public.
As Hyperliquid made all trades transparent, other traders could see his exact liquidation levels. What happened next was described by blockchain analyst Lookonchain as 'brutal hunting.'
Savvy traders deliberately targeted his stop-loss and liquidation levels. The transparency that built his follower base became a weapon used against him.
Some traders even adopted an 'anti-Wynn strategy'. According to on-chain data, one trader realized $5.6 million in profits by taking positions opposite to Wynn's within three days.
The psychological pressure was immense. Every move he made was under strict scrutiny, and every loss was celebrated by critics. The hunter became the hunted.
In moments of clarity, Wynn tried to step back.
"Now I've decided to leave the casino with a profit of $25 million," he posted on May 26. "It was fun, but now is the time for me to leave as a winner."
Five hours later, someone discovered he had opened a long position of $20 million in PEPE with 10x leverage.
His addiction was too strong. The show must go on.
Allegations from ZachXBT
As Wynn's trading losses continued to mount, blockchain investigator ZachXBT launched a devastating attack on his reputation.
Just as Wynn warned fans to be cautious of scam tokens named after him, ZachXBT accused him of hypocrisy, stating he was 'gambling with stolen money' on Hyperliquid.
These allegations are specific and concrete.
Connection to Alameda: ZachXBT hinted that Wynn's trading funds came from suspicious sources linked to the FTX/Alameda collapse, citing ETH transfers from December 2020 as evidence.
Pump and Dump Scam: Detailed allegations against Wynn for promoting low market cap meme coins and then selling for profit, causing losses for fans.
BabyPepe Incident: X user Dylan posted a 15-part thread claiming Wynn applied for and received a private allocation of BabyPepe tokens, publicly promoted these tokens, then immediately sold while cutting ties with the development team.
FTX creditor activist Sunil Kavuri bluntly stated: "James Wynn's trades are like the steroid version of Alameda because he probably traded there."
Wynn denies any wrongdoing but has not offered any detailed rebuttals to specific allegations. His reputation is severely damaged and likely permanent.
Our Perspective
James Wynn represents the double-edged sword of cryptocurrency—both a prophet and a cautionary tale, embodying all the glories and flaws of our industry.
The Good Side: Wynn proved that real insight is still crucial in the cryptocurrency space. His predictions on price-to-earnings ratios were not based on luck but on research, conviction, and the courage to act when others hesitated. He demonstrated that a hungry outsider could outperform resource-rich institutional investors. His radical transparency challenged an industry built on opacity, showing retail investors how whale-level positions operate in real-time.
The Bad Side: Wynn's transition from trader to influencer exposed the most toxic dynamics in the cryptocurrency space—monetization of fans. His alleged pump and dump scheme revealed how easily market insights can be converted into market manipulation when the audience becomes a source of exit liquidity. His $100 million liquidation proved that when self-awareness overrides risk management, even real skill becomes irrelevant.
We created an ecosystem where social media fans are equivalent to financial credibility, transparency becomes a performance art, and extreme risk is repackaged as 'Alpha Generation'. His downfall was live-streamed to nearly a million fans who conflated gambling addiction with trading genius.
The deeper question is whether cryptocurrency's transparency brings accountability or fragility. Traditional finance hides institutional failures behind the scenes, while cryptocurrency livestreams in 4K resolution with live commentary. This is not progress—it's more like voyeurism masquerading as innovation.
Wynn's story forces us to reflect: Are we building a financial system that rewards skill and innovation, or are we merely creating the world's most complex casino where the house always wins and the players are always performing?
The fallen king has fallen, but the kingdom he created is growing stronger.
So are we now expecting a comeback?
Image source: @JamesWynnReal