Blockchain analytics firms say a cluster of whale wallets drove the price of XPL up by roughly 200 % to US$1.80 on the decentralised derivatives venue Hyperliquid in the early hours of 27 August. The most active address, 0xb9c…6801e—linked by several researchers to Tron founder Justin Sun—reportedly deposited 16 million USDC, swept the exchange’s thin order book and closed part of the position within minutes, realising about US$16 million in profit while still holding more than 15 million XPL. On-chain data indicate that four addresses working in concert netted US$38 million to US$48 million during the manoeuvre. A separate estimate from analytics group EmberCN put the haul at US$27.5 million in the first six minutes alone, underscoring the scale of the short squeeze. The move triggered a wave of liquidations among traders who had shorted XPL at 1- to 3-times leverage. Wallet 0xC2Cb lost US$4.59 million and 0x64a4 shed about US$2 million; another account absorbed the day’s largest single liquidation at US$3.89 million. To stave off margin calls, short-side wallets 0x142a and 0x0Aa9 injected a combined US$73 million in stablecoins into Hyperliquid. Across all assets, forced unwinds on the platform and related venues reached US$267.24 million over 24 hours. Developers and market participants criticised Hyperliquid’s shallow order books and lack of price-oracle safeguards, arguing that the transparency intended to protect users instead made liquidation clusters easy targets. The episode comes as Hyperliquid’s governance token, HYPE, notched an all-time high of US$51.05 and the exchange’s monthly trading volumes surpassed several mid-tier centralised rivals, highlighting both the growth and the governance challenges of on-chain derivatives markets.