$184.49M
left its Hyperliquidity Provider (HLP) vault down by nearly $5 million after a trader used $3 million to manipulate the POPCAT-linked market.
Lookonchain reported that the trader began by withdrawing 3 million USDC
$1.97B
exchange.
The funds were divided across 19 new wallets and later sent to Hyperliquid. There, the trader opened over $26 million in leveraged long positions on HYPE, a contract tied to the POPCAT token.
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Later, the trader placed a large $20 million buy wall around the $0.21 price level. This created a false impression of strong buying interest, which drove the market upward.
Once prices rose, the buy orders were canceled, and the support disappeared. As a result, liquidity fell, and many leveraged traders saw their positions liquidated.
These losses were absorbed by Hyperliquid’s vault, which ended up losing about $4.9 million.
However, the attacker also lost all of their $3 million in the process. Some community members suggested that the trader might have hedged those losses elsewhere, but this remains speculation. One user called the event the “costliest research ever”.
During the event, Hyperliquid temporarily paused withdrawals through its bridge. Developer updates later confirmed that the contract was locked using the “vote emergency lock” function as a safety measure.
About an hour later, the team resumed normal operations after reviewing the situation.
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