Hyperliquid Faces $4.9M Loss Due to Whale Manipulation of POPCAT
- Hyperliquid incurred a loss of $4.9 million after a whale manipulated the POPCAT market.
- The whale withdrew $3 million in USDC from OKX into 19 wallets, creating a false demand for POPCAT.
- Buy orders peaked at approximately $30 million, inflating the price before collapsing it.
- Over $63 million in long positions were liquidated within four hours post-collapse, while short positions lost $1.6 million.
- In response, Hyperliquid paused its Arbitrum bridge and closed remaining losing positions to mitigate further losses.
The incident highlights vulnerabilities in automated market systems, as losses are absorbed by liquidity providers to maintain balance. Despite this setback, Hyperliquid’s HYPE token saw a recovery of up to $39.72 following the exploit.
This manipulation resulted in significant liquidations and a substantial hit to Hyperliquid’s liquidity pool profits over three months.(Source)
