2025 Crypto Blood and Tears List: Hundreds of Millions of Dollars in "Tuition Fees" Paid by 10 Whales

In the crypto market, surviving is far more important than how much you make.

Written by: angelilu, Foresight News

The crypto market in 2025 is much like a high-speed express train. Looking back from the platform, people only see the survivors raising their glasses in celebration through the windows, but few pay attention to the passengers who have been thrown off the tracks.

This year, we not only witnessed gamblers going wild in the contract market, but also saw the cruel infiltration of the Web3 dark forest law into the physical world. Stories of getting rich are all similar, but the ways to go to zero are endlessly varied. We have reconstructed the real loss records of several typical figures in 2025—among them are billionaires, tech geeks, legendary gamblers, and even ordinary people who just wanted to save money.

Trading Section

Machi Big Brother Becomes the On-chain "Liquidation Champion"

• Identity: Well-known singer, entrepreneur, NFT whale
• Loss: Liquidated 71 times in just the first 19 days of November; single-day loss of $21.28 million

Huang Licheng's PnL profit and loss curve, source: Hyperbot

Turning the clock back three months, Machi Big Brother was still a winner in the Hyperliquid ecosystem, with heavy positions in HYPE, XPL, and ETH, and unrealized profits once exceeding $44 million. By late September and early October, XPL's price collapsed (maximum drawdown 46%), and HYPE also saw a significant correction. He did not take profits in time, causing his unrealized loss in a single token to quickly expand to over $8.7 million.

With the "10·11" market crash, Machi Big Brother officially turned to a loss. But turning to a loss was not the end for him, but the starting point for unlimited opening of positions. He tried to recover by going long on ETH with high leverage. He held about 7,000 to 30,000 ETH long positions (leverage often at 20x–25x), but every time ETH had a sharp drop, it would trigger his liquidation line.

In just the 19 days from November 1 to 19, Machi Big Brother was forcibly liquidated 71 times. This means that in nearly three weeks, he experienced almost 4 liquidations per day on average, earning him the title of on-chain "liquidation champion." But he kept depositing, getting liquidated, depositing again, and getting liquidated again. As of writing, his total perpetual contract loss on Hyperliquid has reached $20.97 million. From earning $45.66 million to losing $20.97 million, he experienced a drawdown of over $66 million in less than three months. Although there was a brief recovery, he is still in a state of deep loss and frequent margin replenishment.

Unlike ordinary people, Machi Big Brother Huang Licheng also had the halo of a superstar. In the 1990s, he was the soul of Taiwan's L.A. Boyz, a pioneer idol who brought authentic American hip-hop into the Chinese music scene. This was not the first time Machi Big Brother played the role of "retail savior." Everyone must remember the NFT battlefield in 2023. To compete for BLUR airdrop points, he frantically increased trading volume in this bottomless pit. The result was tragic: he did get airdrop tokens worth $1.9 million, but at the cost of losing 12,000 ETH (worth $25 million at the time).

James Wynn's Billion-dollar Gamble

• Identity: James Wynn
• Loss: Opened $1.25 billion bitcoin long position, lost $100 million in a week

If Machi Big Brother's story is "the pastime of the rich," then James Wynn's story is like a mortal who flew too high and had his wings melted by the sun.

Also in contract trading, James Wynn's legend began with PEPE but exploded on the Hyperliquid contract battlefield. In March 2025, James Wynn entered Hyperliquid with $25 million earned from PEPE and started contract trading. This $25 million was made from an initial capital of just $7,600 by heavily betting on the meme coin PEPE in 2023, but spot gains could no longer satisfy him. From March to April, he aggressively went long on PEPE and ETH, making another $25 million, becoming a super whale with $50 million in hand.

In May 2025, James Wynn set his sights on bitcoin, which was then hitting a historical high of $110,000. At that time, James Wynn did something big on-chain: he maxed out 40x leverage near the historical high of bitcoin price at about $108,000, crazily opening a massive long position with a notional value of $1.25 billion. What does this number mean? His single position on-chain even exceeded the treasury reserves of many small countries. He tried to use this $1.25 billion leverage to pry open the door to becoming "the richest man in the world."

But a sharp correction in bitcoin soon broke through the $105,000 mark, becoming James Wynn's nightmare. In just a week, his invaluable contract melted away like an iceberg under the sun. In the end, he had to cut his losses and exit, losing nearly $100 million. Overnight, the astronomical number he made from PEPE was almost entirely returned to the market. After the collapse, he left a nihilistic quote on Twitter: "Money isn't real."

Unwilling to give up, James Wynn tried to "make a comeback" in November, but he bet in the wrong direction—he bet that bitcoin would fall below $92,000 and went all-in short with his remaining funds. The data recorded his final madness: in just two months, he was forcibly liquidated 45 times; on the worst day, he was liquidated 12 times in 12 hours. The former "Meme coin prophet" has now become a gambler screaming at the K-line. He swore on social media: "I'm going to sell all my stablecoins to short. Either make hundreds of millions or go completely bankrupt."

Spot Whale Loses $125 Million "Cutting Losses" and Exits

• Identity: Whale who shorted 66,000 ETH by borrowing coins
• Loss: Unrealized loss of $125 million on a single position; transferred $140 million to Binance to dump in 8 hours

Besides contracts, whales holding spot can also suffer huge losses. The "whale who shorted 66,000 ETH by borrowing coins" was once a market hunter, adept at using lending protocols for large-scale short arbitrage. But this time, the hunter became the prey.

Making $24 million by shorting did not satisfy him; he wanted more—he wanted to profit both ways. On November 5, after closing his short position, he immediately switched sides and started frantically bottom-fishing. In just 9 days by November 14, as if possessed, he transferred a total of $1.187 billion to Binance, withdrew 422,000 ETH, and raised his average position price to $3,413. For this huge gamble, he even used up to $485 million in on-chain leveraged lending.

The market gave this greedy player a harsh slap. As ETH's price kept falling and broke below $3,000, his "bottom-fishing" turned into being "deeply trapped." On-chain data recorded his most desperate moment: at the worst stage in November, his massive long position had an unrealized loss of up to $133 million. The $24.48 million profit he painstakingly made from shorting was instantly swallowed by this huge loss, and even his principal of $100 million was lost. The former "shorting god of war," plus borrowed money, became a "leverage gambler" with $480 million in debt.

On November 16, the whale began a major retreat, redeeming 177,000 ETH from Aave and starting to deposit 44,000 ETH (worth $140 million) in batches to Binance, with an actual loss of $125 million.

Whale Falls in "Chinese Meme" Tokens

• Identity: Whale heavily invested in Chinese Meme tokens at the top
• Loss: Total loss of $3.598 million (single token loss of $2.49 million)

Besides stubbornly holding ETH, there are also many who lost money by stubbornly holding Meme tokens.

In October 2025, when the market focus rotated between AI and mainstream coins, this whale got lost in the narrative maze of "Chinese Meme" tokens.

Like a persistent stamp collector, he spent $4.49 million frantically building positions in a series of Chinese Meme tokens on the BSC chain: "Binance Life," "Customer Service Xiao He," "Hakimi." He bought "Binance Life" heavily at an average price of $0.3485, increasing his position to $4.08 million, becoming the 7th largest individual holder of the token. The market gave him countless chances to escape, but he chose to be a "diamond hand."

Eight days after his initial position, his Meme assets shrank by 56.5%, with an unrealized loss of over $3 million. All tokens except "Hakimi" collapsed, but he did not liquidate and continued to chase the price as it rose. Finally, in early November, his faith collapsed under the gravity of the K-line going to zero, and he liquidated all tokens in one go within 50 minutes. The result was tragic: a total loss of $3.598 million. Of this, just the token "Binance Life" alone cost him $2.49 million.

This whale paid $3.6 million for a lesson: in the world of Meme, what is scarier than contracts is liquidity drying up. Once the trend turns bad, every second is an escape window—stubbornly holding only leads to zero.

An "Unknown Hacker's" "Karmic Retribution"

• Identity: On-chain hacker / top "contrarian indicator"
• Loss: Lost $8.88 million in trading in October alone

This may be the most "satisfying" loss story of 2025. We usually think of hackers as cold, rational predators, but this "unknown hacker" proved with his actions: he only understands code, not the K-line.

This March and August, he stole huge sums through technical means and should have disappeared to enjoy his wealth. However, he made a fatal mistake—trying to trade crypto with stolen money. As it turned out, the market makers in crypto are even more ruthless than hackers.

He "bought high and sold low" on ETH with precision. In early October, he bought 8,637 ETH at an average price of $4,400 (total value about $38.01 million). After holding for just 10 days, he ran into the "10·11" flash crash. In panic, not only did he fail to hold on, but he also liquidated at the floor price of $3,778, losing $5.37 million in one trade.

In mid-October, he panic sold again during the decline, losing $3.24 million. The most ridiculous scene happened an hour after cutting losses—seeing the market rebound, he couldn't resist buying back more than 2,000 ETH at a higher price. The market then fell again, and he had to cut losses again. By October 18, in just half a month, due to frequent chasing and panic selling, he had lost a total of $8.88 million.

This hacker's personal experience tells us: stealing money requires skill, but keeping money requires temperament. In the face of volatile K-lines, even hackers are just green retail investors.

Attack Section

User Babur: The Failed "Multisig" and the Costly "Double Click"

• Identity: On-chain whale
• Loss: About $27 million (some funds already laundered into Tornado Cash)

If some losses are due to overly complex technology, then Babur's $27 million loss was due to "extremely bad habits."

At the end of December 2025, SlowMist founder Cosine and CertiK successively disclosed this case. Whale Babur's Solana and Ethereum addresses were looted, with losses as high as $27 million. Regrettably, Babur actually had some security awareness—he used the industry-standard Safe multisig wallet to store assets.

In theory, a multisig wallet requires multiple private key signatures to transfer funds, making it very secure. But the investigation found a fatal rookie mistake: Babur actually stored the two private keys needed for multisig on the same computer. This is like buying the world's strongest safe (multisig), which requires two keys to open, but hanging both keys on the safe's handle.

When he double-clicked a malicious file ("poisoned") on his computer, the virus easily took all the private keys. Cosine commented: "The real poisoning attack is probably very simple, nothing advanced, most threats are old news."

Afterwards, CertiK detected that the hacker had transferred 4,250 ETH (about $14 million) into Tornado Cash for mixing. Babur paid $27 million for the simplest lesson: if private keys are not physically separated, even the most advanced multisig is just a thin layer of protection.

Suji Yan: The "Missing 11 Minutes" at a Birthday Party

• Identity: Mask Network founder
• Loss: $4 million (nightmare on his 29th birthday)

On February 27, 2025, what should have been a joyful celebration of Mask Network founder Suji Yan's 29th birthday turned into a nightmare of Rashomon proportions. This was not a sophisticated code attack from the dark web, but a chilling "insider" crisis. According to Suji's own account, he was celebrating his birthday with a dozen friends at a private party. Just because he went to the bathroom and left his phone unattended for a few minutes, fate began to turn.

On-chain data shows that in the following 11 minutes, a hacker calmly and manually transferred over $4 million in assets from his public wallet. SlowMist founder Cosine confirmed that the funds were quickly converted to ETH and dispersed to seven addresses.

"The operation was manual and lasted over 11 minutes." This means that behind the laughter and toasts, someone (or lurking malware) used this brief window to complete the theft right under his nose. Suji admitted: "I trust my friends, but this is a nightmare for anyone." This incident became the coldest lesson in Web3 for 2025: never store the private key of a hot wallet holding large assets on a phone used for socializing and taking photos.

Sam Altman's Ex-boyfriend's Night of Terror

• Identity: Well-known tech investor, Sam Altman's ex-boyfriend
• Loss: $11 million + personal injury

If on-chain theft is "losing money to avoid disaster," then Lachy Groom's experience completely shatters the illusion that "decentralized assets are safer." On a Saturday in November, a robber disguised as a courier tricked his way into his mansion in San Francisco. Lachy was not only held at gunpoint but also tied up with tape and beaten. For 90 minutes, the robber forced him to hand over passwords and emptied $11 million in crypto assets from his accounts. This case represents the increasingly "dimensionality-reducing blow" of Web3 crime: hackers no longer need to break code, they just need to break into your home.

Recommended reading: "Leaving aside 'Altman's ex,' how crazy is Lachy Groom's cheat-code life"

According to Bloomberg, in the past three years, "wrench attacks" against crypto holders have surged. According to a database maintained by Casa co-founder Jameson Lopp, there have been about 60 such attacks recorded globally this year, causing tens of millions of dollars in losses.

Douyin Buyer: Cold Wallet "Poisoned" by the Supply Chain

• Identity: Ordinary investor
• Loss: 50 million RMB (about $7.08 million)

This is a classic case of "cognitive harvesting." An investor, in pursuit of so-called absolute security, decided to use a hardware cold wallet to store assets. But he made a fatal mistake: he bought a "special offer" cold wallet on Douyin.

What he didn't know was that the wallet had been tampered with before leaving the factory and the private key had already been leaked. When he confidently deposited 50 million RMB, he was actually handing the money directly to the hacker. A few hours later, the assets were laundered clean through Huione. This expensive lesson tells us: the biggest security loophole is often the human tendency to be greedy for bargains.

Whale Loses $91.4 Million Trusting "Official Customer Service"

• Identity: "Obedient" whale holding $300 million in bitcoin
• Loss: 783 bitcoin (worth about $91.4 million at the time)

On August 19, 2025, a whale fell victim to a "social engineering attack." He didn't click on any suspicious links or download any viruses; he just answered a phone call. On the other end was a gentle, professional "hardware wallet official senior engineer," who informed him that his device had a critical vulnerability and needed to "upgrade the firmware" immediately. During a one-hour call, the whale completely let down his guard and personally handed over 783 bitcoin worth about $91.4 million. After the malicious transfer, the funds began the typical laundering process, being deposited multiple times into Wasabi Wallet (a privacy tool commonly used to obfuscate tracking).

Similarly, in 2024, there was a similar case with an even larger amount, where the victim lost about $300 million worth of bitcoin.

Survivorship Bias

These 10 names, with hundreds of millions of dollars in tuition, show us the full picture of the Web3 dark forest: there are no absolute winners here—hackers can steal code, but lose to market makers in the secondary market; there is no absolute security—Babur's technical defenses can't withstand "poisoning" in the physical world; there are also no absolute fortresses—Lachy's mansion can't stop a robber's gun, and the obedient whale who trusted "official customer service" can't resist the blind obedience deep in human nature.

Everyone on this list was once a leader or a lucky one in their field. If there is one survival rule to remember in 2025, it may not be "how to get rich," but "how to survive."

In the crypto market, surviving is far more important than how much you make. After all, only those who survive are qualified to tell next year's story.