High-Stakes Crypto Trader James Wynn Faces Scrutiny Over Alleged Alameda Research Ties

Rumors swirl as James Wynn—a trader known for aggressive bets—gets linked to Sam Bankman-Fried’s infamous hedge fund. Did he play a role in the FTX collapse, or is this just guilt by association?

Sources whisper about backchannel deals, but proof remains scarce. Meanwhile, crypto Twitter erupts with schadenfreude—nothing delights degens more than a whale getting harpooned.

One thing’s certain: in crypto, the line between ’visionary’ and ’bagholder’ often comes down to who’s holding the spreadsheet when the music stops.

James Wynn is now in the red

The attention on James Wynn increased as the Bitcoin (BTC) rally stalled in the past day. BTC traded around $109,007, but even that price drop was enough to erase Wynn’s gains. Previously, Wynn had closed a position with a $25M gain, but then reopened a 40X Leveraged long. 

The position is now marking a $2.4M unrealized loss, and may be liquidated if BTC does not recover. Wynn, however, is still confident in the performance of BTC, as the coin reversed still above his liquidation price. 

Wynn believed the trading activity in the past day was deliberate, an attempt to liquidate his position, which still holds for now. 

The past two days even spawned reverse traders, who took short positions when Wynn went long. According to on-chain data, one trader spent the past three days with a reverse-Wynn strategy. The end result was $5.6M in realized gains. The whale retains reverse positions, which are still in the green with $445K in gains. 

Wynn, on the other hand, is more than $13.2M in unrealized losses for the past 24 hour period.

The end result may reverse if BTC resumes its rally. Wynn continues to keep a high profile on social media, while drawing attention to Hyperliquid. 

One of the theories for Wynn’s high-risk trades is that he was deliberately showing the capabilities of Hyperliquid, pushing its token to new peaks. 

After the recent trades, HYPE stalled just under $40. The token traded at $37.64, with no significant gains in the past day. Hyperliquid expanded its open interest to over $8.9B, aiming to compete with the top centralized derivative exchanges.

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