ZachXBT Identifies Hyperliquid Whale as UK Fraudster

Prominent on-chain investigator ZachXBT has identified William Parker, a UK man formerly known as Alistair Packover, as the notorious “Hyperliquid whale.” Parker’s past involves serious criminal activity, including a $1 million casino theft and various hacking scandals, which raises questions about the legitimacy of his more recent cryptocurrency dealings. Allegations suggest that Parker manipulated cryptocurrency markets to reap gains of approximately $20 million through highly leveraged positions, raising eyebrows in the financial community about the ethics and legality of his strategies.

### Shady Trades and Suspicious Profits

In a detailed thread on X, ZachXBT described how Parker initially funded his trading exploits through an input validation exploit on a casino game. This exploit reportedly allowed him to negotiate payouts via a now-deleted Telegram account, which ZachXBT was able to trace back to Parker’s UK phone number. His criminal history dates back to the early 2010s, when he faced fraud charges linked to hacking and gambling-related crimes. In a notable incident last year, he was apprehended in Finland for defrauding online casinos of $903,000 by manipulating their game outcomes.

The whale first gained notoriety in March after executing two high-stakes leveraged trades. One involved a 50x leveraged long position on Ethereum and Bitcoin, which reportedly yielded a $10 million profit just hours before U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order focusing on a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. A second trade, involving a 40x leverage short position on BTC, netted Parker an additional $9 million.

Complications arose when the whale liquidated a staggering $340 million ETH long position on the Hyperliquid platform, reportedly walking away with $1.8 million while causing a $4 million loss to the platform’s HLP vault. Initial rumors suggested an exploit on Hyperliquid was to blame, but the exchange quickly clarified that the outcome was a known consequence of their systems under extreme trading conditions.

ZachXBT’s investigations further connected Parker’s blockchain address to several suspicious accounts across platforms like Roobet, Binance, and Gamdon. The sound detective work unveiled wallets linked to Parker, including one that had received $17,100 from a phishing incident earlier in the year. Screenshots shared by ZachXBT even revealed the trader admitting on X to generating $20 million in profits through trades on GMX and Hyperliquid.

### Market Reaction

Following the revelations by ZachXBT, the HYPE token associated with the Hyperliquid ecosystem experienced significant volatility. At its lowest, HYPE plummeted from an intra-day high of $15.11 to a low of $14.04 before partially recovering to around $14.41. Despite the minor rebound, HYPE was down approximately 3.1% at the time of writing, contributing to monthly losses that total nearly 40%.

This episode raises critical questions about the intersection of crime and finance in the evolving world of cryptocurrency trading. As the cryptosphere grapples with these revelations, the implications for trust and security in digital assets become even more pronounced. The hyper-leveraged trading strategies and the fallout from Parker’s actions may serve as a cautionary tale for both investors and platforms navigating the frontier of digital currency.