Author: Frank, PANews
Recently, a former PEPE big shot transformed into a contract whale, frequently opening positions worth hundreds of millions of dollars on Hyperliquid, which has drawn market attention. As one of the few whales with a public identity actively participating in the Hyperliquid community, James Wynn's daily position changes have become a focus for many investors.
What is James Wynn's background, and how does he move the market's nerves through his statements and positions?
The "10U God" Who Rose to Fame with PEPE
According to James Wynn's self-description on Twitter, he was born in a "forgotten small town" in the UK, filled with crime, drugs, alcohol, and poverty. James Wynn stated that he grew up in difficult circumstances, "barely making ends meet" every week.
In 2022, after encountering cryptocurrency, James Wynn became a 10U god. He often hovered among several ultra-small-cap memes until later discovering PEPE on iToken. Subsequently, James Wynn chose to heavily invest in PEPE, earning tens of millions of dollars. A previous PANews report also verified this on-chain.
From social media information, James Wynn joined Twitter in 2023, with his early content almost entirely focused on promoting and advertising PEPE. In April 2023, James Wynn predicted that PEPE's market cap would rise to $4.2 billion, when its market cap was only $4.2 million. A year later, this prediction not only came true but even exceeded his expectations. In October 2024, PEPE's market cap peaked at over $10 billion, becoming one of the highest-valued meme coins.
As one of PEPE's largest holders, James Wynn also gained enormous profits. According to PANews' previous statistics, his initial investment in PEPE was only $7,600, and by April 2024, his earnings had exceeded $25 million. Given PEPE's subsequent 3-fold increase, his total earnings might exceed $50 million.
Reputation Damaged After Harvesting Fans, He Transforms
In 2024, as his PEPE god persona became successful, James Wynn's posts began to involve more meme coins (like BIAO, ANDY, WOLF), and he often released new token contract addresses to shill. In April 2024, James Wynn recommended a token called ELON and subsequently shilled it intensely like he did with PEPE. Meanwhile, he quietly positioned himself in the token using several wallets. Under his highly influential recommendation, many community players began to follow and buy ELON. After the token rose hundredfold, James Wynn claimed the token had issues and stated he had sold out. This operation caused ELON's price to drop 70% in a short time, with many players buried in James Wynn's sell-off slope. This operation severely damaged his reputation in the community, and people began to realize that the MEME god was not reliable.
Subsequently, James Wynn's content gradually began to change, transitioning from a community promoter to an investor and analyst. In the latter half of 2024, he started focusing on Bitcoin trends and market analysis, changing his Twitter name from "James Wynn (The GOAT)" to "James Wynn Whale".
12 Billion Dollar Position, High Leverage Gambling
In March 2025, James Wynn officially entered Hyperliquid, depositing about $6 million for contract trading. In just two months, through high-leverage operations on Hyperliquid, he increased his profits to around $48 million by May 24th.
Especially in the past month, through frequent high-leverage and large-position investments, James Wynn not only frequently placed himself on social media trending lists but also proved his trading talent or luck with a monthly profit of $36 million.
His trading targets on Hyperliquid were surprisingly simple, mainly concentrating on Bitcoin and a few meme coins like PEPE, TRUMP, and FARTCOIN. For example, on April 6th, 2025, he went long on Bitcoin at an average price of $94,292 with 40x leverage; when Bitcoin's price rose from $94,000 to $100,000, his floating profit reached $5 million. His 10x leverage long position on PEPE had a floating profit of $23 million. TRUMP and FARTCOIN token trades also contributed profits of approximately $5-5.7 million and $4.3-5.15 million respectively.
As of May 24th, James Wynn's total funds on Hyperliquid were about $55.8 million, compared to his 1.25 billion dollar position. His overall leverage ratio was about 22x, and at such a leverage rate, a market fluctuation exceeding 5% could lead to a complete liquidation. Therefore, his trading style belongs to a high-risk, high-reward approach, unsuitable for ordinary traders. However, considering he had already earned tens of millions from PEPE and other memes, his position was within his controllable risk range. On May 24th, James Wynn closed his 1.2 billion dollar position, suffering a loss of about $13.39 million, which brought his overall earnings back to around $40 million.
Looking at James Wynn's crypto trading career, from obscurity to MEME leader, to transforming again into a contract trading whale, James Wynn's experience seems to best match people's imagination of a crypto wealth story. He appears unwilling to be low-key, remaining active on social media despite holding massive wealth. This exposure indeed brought him benefits, allowing him to leverage his influence to ensure followers would support the MEME coins he invested in. In the contract trading phase, as market attention grew, James Wynn's operations would to some extent influence traders' market judgments, potentially even creating a follow-trading effect (though perhaps not as pronounced as during the MEME coin period).
Overall, James Wynn's success seems to be a mixture of market timing, extraordinary courage (or extreme adventurism), and powerful self-marketing capabilities. Ultimately, what James Wynn's "rise to wealth" leaves the market might be more questions than answers. Is he a trading genius with unique insights, or merely a lucky person who caught a market trend? Will his next stop be extreme wealth or complete liquidation?
This is far from over. The crypto market has never lacked "heroes" of a specific stage, but becoming an "evergreen" still requires the test of time.
