Contract Whale James Wynn: From Slums to Crypto Players, a crazy $1.2 billion bet

Author:Frank , PANews

Recently, the former PEPE boss has transformed into a contract whale, and has frequently opened contracts with hundreds of millions of dollars in Hyperliquid, which has aroused the market's onlookers. As one of the few giant whales who have disclosed their identity on Hyperliquid and are active in the community, James Wynn's daily position changes have become a hot topic for many investors.

What is the background of James Wynn, and how does his remarks and positions affect the nerves of the entire market?

The "10U God of War" who started with PEPE

According to James Wynn's self-reporter on Twitter, he was born in a "forgotten town" in the UK, which is full of crime, drugs, alcohol and poverty. James Wynn said that he has lived in dire straits since he was a child and "lived his life every week."

In 2022, James Wynn became a member of the 10 U God of War after exposure to cryptocurrencies. It is also often separated from several ultra-small MEMEs until later PEPE was discovered on iToken. James Wynn then chose to buy PEPE heavily and made tens of millions of dollars. Previously, PANews's report on James Wynn also verified this from the chain. (Related Reading: Legendary Meme Coin Hunter James: Make $25 million with $7,000, but now the call effect fails )

Judging from social media information, James Wynn began to join Twitter in 2023, and almost all of his initial content focused on the promotion and promotion of PEPE coins. In April 2023, James Wynn predicted that the market value of PEPE tokens will rise to US$4.2 billion. The market value at that time was US$4.2 million. A year later, this prophecy not only came true, but even exceeded his expectations at the time. In October 2024, PEPE's market value exceeded US$10 billion, becoming one of the highest market value MEME coins.

Of course, in this process, James Wynn, as one of the largest holders of PEPE coins, also gained huge profits. According to previous statistics from PANews, James Wynn's principal in PEPE transactions was only US$7,600, and his profits exceeded US$25 million as of April 2024. Given that PEPE has risen by about 3 times later. James Wynn's overall earnings could exceed $50 million.

Reap fans' reputation damages

By 2024, with the successful creation of the PEPE master's character, James Wynn's post began to involve more MEME coins (such as BIAO, ANDY, WOLF). He himself often publishes some new token CAs to make orders. In April 2024, James Wynn recommended a token called ELON and yelled in a crazy order like he did when he recommended PEPE in the following days. At the same time, James Wynn also used several wallets to quietly deploy the token. With the highly appealing recommendation, many community players began to follow up and buy ELON. After the token rose a hundredfold, James Wynn claimed that there was something wrong with the token and said that the token had been cleared. After this wave of operation, the price of ELON fell by 70% in a short period of time, and many players were buried in James Wynn's clearance landslide. Such operations have also caused James Wynn's reputation in the community to be seriously damaged, and people have begun to realize that MEME masters are not reliable.

Afterwards, James Wynn's content gradually began to change, gradually transforming from community promoters to investors and analysts. In the second half of 2024, he began to gradually turn to Bitcoin trends, market analysis and other aspects. And changed the Twitter name from "James Wynn (The GOAT)" to the current "James Wynn giant whale".

High leverage bets for holdings of US$1.2 billion

In March 2025, James Wynn began to officially switch to Hyperliquid and deposited about $6 million in contract trading. In just two months, through high leverage operations on Hyperliquid, James Wynn increased his profit to around $48 million as of May 24.

Especially in the past month, through frequent high leverage and large positions, James Wynn not only frequently put his operations on the social media hot list, but also once again proved his trading talent or luck with a monthly income of US$36 million.

His trading goals on Hyperliquid are surprisingly simple, focusing mainly on Bitcoin and a few meme coins such as PEPE, TRUMP and FARTCOIN. For example, on April 6, 2025, he went long Bitcoin with an average price of $94,292 and 40 times leverage; when the price of Bitcoin rose from $94,000 to $100,000, his floating profit reached $5 million. The 10-fold leveraged long position of PEPE held by him has a floating profit of up to US$23 million. Transactions of TRUMP and FARTCOIN tokens also contributed about $5 million to $5.57 million and $4.3 million to $5.15 million respectively.

As of May 24, James Wynn's total funds in Hyperliquid were approximately US$55.8 million, compared with the $1.25 billion opened. His overall leverage ratio is about 22 times. Under such a leverage ratio, once the market fluctuates exceed 5%, it may face full liquidation. Therefore, his trading style is a high-risk, high-yield route and is not suitable for ordinary traders. Of course, considering that James Wynn has already earned tens of millions of dollars in principal on MEMEs such as PEPE, his position is also within the controllable range of risks. On May 24, James Wynn closed his position worth $1.2 billion, with a loss of about $13.39 million. Due to the huge losses of the deal, his overall profit also fell back to around $40 million.

A look at James Wynn's crypto trading career, from being anonymous to a MEME leader, to transforming into a contract trading giant whale again. James Wynn's experience seems to fit the imagination of crypto-wealth stories best. He himself seems unwilling to be a low-key person. Although he holds huge wealth, he is still active on social media. This exposure also brings him real benefits. During the MEME ordering period, he can use his influence to ensure that the MEME coins he invested in always have followers carrying the sedan. When it comes to the contract trading stage, as the market pays more and more attention, James Wynn's operations will also affect some traders' judgment of the market to a certain extent, and even form a order-subsidy effect (but this impact may not be as obvious as the MEME currency period).

Overall, James Wynn's success seems to be a mixture of market timing, extraordinary courage (or extreme adventurous spirit) and strong self-marketing capabilities. In the end, what James Wynn's "history of making a fortune" is left to the market may be more questions than answers. Is he a unique trading genius, or is he just a lucky person who has seized the trend of the times, and will he get rich or lose his position next stop?

All this is far from over. The crypto market has never lacked "heroes" in stages, but becoming an "evergreen tree" still takes the test of time.