Anonymous Cryptocurrency Trader Turns $368 Initial Purchase into $2 Million of Unrealized Gains in Just Three Days

Commentators on X speculate on a possible insider trading activity, although nothing is confirmed.

An anonymous cryptocurrency trader has managed to turn an initial purchase of $368 into nearly $2 million in three days, according to a recent analysis by Lookonchain. The trader made the purchase on the Sui network, specifically trading the meme coin HIPPO against the native token SUI.

As of the original post, the meme coin was trading at $0.012 with 133.9 million HIPPO left, which would be worth about $1.7 million. However, the HIPPO/SUI pair on Cetus’ decentralized exchange was already up, touching price resistance at almost $0.014.

While the trader is making a significant profit from this trade, Sui has also been in the spotlight recently due to its fully diluted value (FDV). Despite having a market capitalization of $5 billion, ranking it 20th, only 27.6% of the total SUI supply is currently in circulation.

This means that the cryptocurrency is facing impending 72.4% inflation that will inevitably hit the market, creating massive selling pressure. Notably, the majority of these yet-to-be-circulated tokens are locked in vesting contracts, either controlled by Mysten Labs or private investors.

As reported by Finbold in October, SUI unlocked over $100 million in tokens, sparking both criticism and concern among the community members.

Back in May, Justin Bons slammed SUI’s tokenomics, highlighting the large amount of locked tokens in the hands of a few, as we covered:

“SUI has a great design, except for its token economics: SUI claims to have a capped supply of 10B, with 52% being “unallocated” till 2030. The problem is that over 8B SUI is being staked right now! Over 84% of the staked supply is held by founders. To say this is gross is an understatement The sheer greed of SUI’s distribution is mindblowing”

Several market participants also pointed out the upcoming unlock as the reason behind the sudden “pushing” of SUI by influencers and the crypto media.

“This is eye opening. Now I understand why $SUI has been pushed hard since 2 weeks by KOLs and lots of media. Every single time.”

In addition, cryptocurrency trader and investor Wazz highlighted Sui’s model, where these whales with locked tokens can still stake and essentially profit from the yet-not-circulating tokens that are pledged to them:

“If you’re holding any coin that allows for staking of locked tokens, you’re getting scammed.

You think you’re being smart buying before the unlocks vest, but in reality seed investors are dumping staking rewards non stop at 100x valuations.”

It’s worth noting that even in the case of strong and usable projects, cryptocurrencies are inherently volatile and carry substantial risks for traders, investors and users alike. However, trading meme coins adds another layer of peril, especially in terms of liquidity.

Moreover, this asset class has characteristics that are likened to financial bubbles, which can lead to liquidity death spirals. The “Greater Fool Theory” helps explain the dynamics observed with meme coins.

These are speculative tokens that are largely driven by social hype and buzz without any organic demand. Essentially, traders buy the token expecting a “greater fool” to pay a higher price in the future. However, the scheme unravels once there are no “greater fools” to continue driving the price up, often encountering liquidity problems and death spirals.