Crypto Chaos: How Fartcoin Turned Millionaires into Pancakes Overnight

In a feat worthy of an octopus juggling anvils, Hyperliquid got $1.5M lighter while Fartcoin did a nose-dive after a heroic 57% leap, courtesy of the same mischief-makers behind XPL’s April 3 fiasco.

Fartcoin had been strutting upwards like a caffeinated squirrel for three days straight. By April 9, it had climbed to $0.252, luring in bulls like moths to a particularly flashy candle. Then 7:00 a.m. struck-and suddenly it plummeted over 20% in a time frame that made even gravity blush.

By the time it scraped below $0.18, most of the rally’s hard work had evaporated, leaving behind a 26% crater and casualties that extended beyond the spot market.

The Trap Was Already Set

According to PeckShieldAlert on X, Hyperliquid’s HLP pool absorbed roughly $1.5 million in losses within 24 hours. The attacker, a person with the subtlety of a ninja in a fireworks shop, had quietly amassed a $15 million Fartcoin long position across four wallets, hoarding 145.24 million tokens before the crash theatrically unfolded.

The setup was meticulous. In a low-liquidity playground, the attacker triggered what PeckShieldAlert called a “suicide” liquidation, which compelled Hyperliquid’s auto-deleveraging mechanism to jump in like an overzealous referee. HLP got stuck holding the toxic bag. Paper losses hovered around $3 million, but clever hedging likely turned the scenario into a profitable affair for the instigator.

Yes, dear reader-the loss was Hyperliquid’s. The attacker tiptoed off with a smug grin.

This Team Has Done This Before

On-chain sleuths at Lookonchain flagged the incident and drew a straight line to the April 3 XPL collapse. Two addresses, 0xBc1D9760bd6ca468CA9fB5Ff2CFbEAC35d86c973 and 0x3dBE077e7986657E95e1CC50089f17a5a4AF0AaE, link both disasters. Fartcoin accumulation started immediately post-XPL calamity, suggesting the same nimble-minded gang pivoted operations like an over-caffeinated chess player.

Lookonchain outlined the playbook: before the rally, multiple addresses poured funds into Hyperliquid to open high-leverage positions. Once gains were secured, they withdrew all margin, dragging liquidation points perilously close to bankruptcy. Coordinated spot selling across platforms then triggered simultaneous market mayhem.

At precisely 7:00 a.m., six addresses pulled the financial equivalent of the tablecloth from under the market. Liquidations hit $22.83 million and sent the flash crash into motion.

Whales Who Chased the Rally Got Wiped Out

The collateral damage was cinematic. Lookonchain reported that whales with positions over $1 million collectively got liquidated for $38.88 million. Traders who had been riding the rally woke up in a pool of financial confetti.

Within the hour, two additional addresses, 0x5e1 and 0x71c, tried their luck with high-leverage longs and were promptly liquidated at 7:52 a.m., dragging the token even lower. Both trace back to 0xBc1D, the ringleader behind this symphony of chaos.

Hyperliquid’s vulnerability in low-liquidity tokens is an old story. Previous incidents involving its ADL mechanism have earned eyebrows of suspicion. This time, HLP bore the brunt, acting as counterparty for liquidations the system couldn’t handle gracefully.

Bad debt was created. The platform absorbed it. Somewhere, a financial intern wept.

The Number Behind the Numbers

The $1.5 million HLP hit is the immediate headline. The $38.88 million in liquidated whales is the broader carnage. And the attacker’s $3 million paper loss likely turns into a net grin once cross-venue shorts are tallied.

Fartcoin’s 57% surge over three days ended in a single-morning wipeout. Build the rally, bait the chasers, obliterate the price, profit. Rinse. Repeat.

The same team, the same method. XPL on April 3. Fartcoin on April 9.

Disclaimer: This tale is pieced together from on-chain data and public sources. It does not constitute financial advice. Observations reflect a writer’s best attempt at making sense of a crypto circus.

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2026-04-09 14:59