On August 27, 2025, a price manipulation of the XPL token occurred on the Hyperliquid platform, resulting in four whale addresses earning over $47 million in profits and causing significant losses for other traders.
Coordinated Whale Attacks
Four whale addresses, including 0xb9c, 0xe41, 0x006, and 0x894, manipulated the XPL token market on the Hyperliquid platform. The primary coordinator, address 0xb9c, secured $15.11 million alone. They executed large leveraged transactions, leading to the liquidation of other traders' positions. Victims, such as address 0xC2Cb, incurred losses totaling $4.59 million. The price of XPL surged from $0.40 to $1.80 in mere minutes, sparking discussion on the need for enhanced regulation.
The Need for Anti-Manipulation Protections
Despite the financial chaos, no official comments have been made from Hyperliquid's management or regulatory bodies. Analysts stress that incidents like this are becoming a persistent issue on platforms with high leverage. Similar incidents with JELLY tokens caused $12 million in losses, highlighting the risks associated with perpetual contracts in DeFi.
Discussion on Regulatory Measures
According to CoinMarketCap data, Plasma (XPL) currently trades at $0.51, with a trading volume surge of 293% in the last 24 hours. Experts from Coincu highlight the requirement for industry reforms and point to the weaknesses of markets susceptible to manipulation due to high leverage and low liquidity.
The incident of XPL token manipulation on Hyperliquid underscores the necessity for stricter regulatory measures in DeFi platforms to prevent similar occurrences in the future.
