Whale Loses $6.2M in JELLY Exploit, Still Holds 10% Supply
A whale crypto has found itself at the center of a explosive exploit that is linked to Jelly my Jelly (JELLY) memecoin on decentralized exchange Hyperliquid. Even after Hyperliquid delisted and froze the token, the whale still holds over 10% of its supply worth around $2 million.
By Arkham Intelligence, the whale exploited liquidation dynamics to earn at least $6.26 million in profit.
Exploit Mechanics: $6.26M Made in Minutes
According to Arkham’s postmortem, in five minutes, the whale had established two long positions with $2.15M and $1.9M value, along with a short position of $4.1M.
The value of JELLY shot up 400%, and the whale’s enormous short wasn’t unwound immediately. Instead, it was absorbed by the Hyperliquidity Provider Vault (HLP) for what it is designed to do with giant positions—essentially letting the profit run.
Whale Continues to Hold $1.9M in Tokens
Despite all the fallout, the whale’s five associated addresses continue to hold over $1.9M worth of JELLY on Solana, blockchain sleuth ZachXBT reports.
“All JELLY was bought since March 22, 2025,” he tweeted on Telegram. The entity has been reported to keep on selling even after the intervention of Hyperliquid.
Hype vs. Fundamentals: Lessons from JELLY
Bitget Wallet COO Alvin Kan told Cointelegraph the crash highlights the weakness of meme-based tokens.
“The JELLY saga is a harsh reminder that hype over fundamentals will not last,” Kan noted.
“Projects built on speculation, as opposed to utility, will continue to be exposed.”
Decentralization Questions and Reimbursements
While Hyperliquid’s quick action curbed user collateral damage, critics argue that it toed the line between decentralization and control.
The Hyper Foundation has promised to automatically refund most users except for the exploiter’s wallets.
It is the latest of a growing list of memecoin blowups, just two weeks after a Wolf of Wall Street-themed token fell 99% due to insider distribution.
