On September 1, 2026, a narrative on the same chain was torn into three pieces: According to a single source, on one end, the Lazarus Group imported over 30 million US dollars in Bitcoin into Hyperliquid/HyperUnit, exchanged it for ETH and SOL on-chain first, and then bridged it to Tron, Solana, and Ethereum, which is widely seen as another operation leveraging decentralized derivatives platforms for capital transfer, prompting discussions on regulation and security to be pushed to the forefront; on the other end, according to the same source, Huang Licheng completed the switch from a 10x leveraged HYPE long position to a 25x leveraged ETH long position on this perpetual contract DEX known for high leverage and efficient matchmaking, with about 40,050 ETH having a nominal value close to 99.1 million US dollars, combined with a BTC long position for a total exposure of about 128 million US dollars, and an investment return rate of about 22.8%. The giant whale shifted from platform tokens to high-leverage mainstream assets, and the long-short sentiment intertwined within a single account; meanwhile, in the off-chain index world, Strategy submitted a letter of opposition to MSCI, accusing its proposal to exclude "non-operational companies" from the global investable market index of being "misguided" and "discriminatory," continuing the dispute that has persisted since 2025 over the status of digital asset treasury companies. Under the triple pull of hacker funds, whale leverage, and index rules, Hyperliquid and the broader digital asset infrastructure became the same battleground for different power structures to project their respective positions.

Lazarus Funds Flowing into Hyperliquid

According to analyst Emmett Gallic, as disclosed by a single source, the Lazarus Group chose to quietly take a more direct path outside this battle for rules: funds first flowed into Hyperliquid/HyperUnit in the form of Bitcoin, completing the first step of "shell exchange" on this perpetual contract DEX known for high leverage and efficient matchmaking. Bitcoin was quickly exchanged for ETH and SOL, which were then bridged to multiple public chains including Tron, Solana, and Ethereum. This entire path avoided the monitoring of a single chain while utilizing the depth and tools of the derivatives platform to complete the reorganization of asset forms.

For a North Korean hacker organization like Lazarus, this is not the first time utilizing decentralized platforms for mixing coins and cross-chain transfers, but it is a particularly clear sample: choosing high-leverage, low KYC-threshold derivatives platforms as a springboard makes it difficult for monitors to draw a clear line between "trading behavior" and "money laundering behavior." As funds transition from Bitcoin to ETH and SOL within Hyperliquid, and then disperse to Tron, Solana, and Ethereum, each time a chain is crossed, the responsible subjects for compliance and law enforcement become increasingly ambiguous, pushing the DeFi platform's responsibilities within the anti-money laundering framework into a position that must be openly discussed.

Huang Licheng Liquidates HYPE Long Position and Transitions to ETH

As the platform's role was scrutinized under the anti-money laundering magnifying glass, another whale was also reordering its chips on the same stage. According to a single source, Huang Licheng chose to liquidate his previously high-leverage 10x HYPE long position betting on Hyperliquid's ecosystem token, actively withdrawing from the high-leverage bet on this "new narrative token." He did not reduce the overall risk exposure but concentrated his leverage firepower on larger mainstream assets. The total position value he held in Hyperliquid was about 128 million US dollars, with floating profits of about 1.08 million US dollars, corresponding to an investment return rate of about 22.8%.

The same source indicated that he opened a long position of about 40,050 ETH on Hyperliquid, with a nominal value of approximately 99.1 million US dollars, and applied a 25x leverage, while also holding an undisclosed size BTC long position. This structural adjustment from HYPE to ETH and BTC shifted exposure back from project tokens to mainstream assets on one hand, but on the other hand, further increased the leverage multiples, creating a more extreme risk curve, which made this position resemble a signal of "returning to mainstream assets from new narratives" in high-leverage rotation.

Hackers and Whales Betting on Hyperliquid

As Huang Licheng shifted his position from HYPE back to ETH and BTC, another completely different funding trajectory unfolded simultaneously on the same platform. According to a single source, the Bitcoin of the Lazarus Group first flowed into Hyperliquid/HyperUnit, then was exchanged for ETH and SOL, and subsequently bridged to Tron, Solana, and Ethereum networks; during the same period, Huang Licheng placed a bet on approximately 40,050 ETH long positions using 25x leverage on Hyperliquid, and added an undisclosed size BTC long position, pushing the total leveraged exposure to about 128 million US dollars. One is a hacker organization widely reported for long-term use of decentralized platforms for mixing coins and cross-chain transfers, and the other is a whale address actively participating in derivative trading. They mobilized large positions with entirely different purposes under the same matching engine and risk engine, making this perpetual contract DEX, known for high leverage and efficient matchmaking, simultaneously a pathway for hackers to launder money and a stage for high-leverage speculation.

When suspicious funds exceeding 30 million US dollars concurrently overlapped with over one hundred million dollars in high-leverage positions on the same protocol layer, Hyperliquid not only bore the concentrated risks of market sentiment and price volatility but also inevitably got pushed into the spotlight of regulation and public opinion. The external question of how it can continue to provide high-efficiency, high-leverage tools while identifying and intercepting such highly scrutinized funding flows like those from Lazarus, and what technical and regulatory responses it will offer on on-chain monitoring and anti-money laundering processes, will all become key variables for observing this platform's governance capability and survival space going forward; however, as of now, there has been no specific response or compliance measure from Hyperliquid regarding this Lazarus funding incident in the publicly available materials, leaving this question mark hanging over its head for the foreseeable future.

MSCI Proposal Criticized by Strategy

While Hyperliquid was magnified by hacker funds and whale leverage, another battle on the traditional financial level was also unfolding in parallel. MSCI launched a new round of index rule adjustment proposals to exclude "non-operational companies" from the global investable market index. According to a single source, Strategy immediately submitted a letter of opposition to MSCI, bluntly stating that this proposal was "misguided" and "discriminatory," explicitly pointing out that this was a new technological expression restarting the old topic of classifying treasury companies holding substantial digital assets for suppression.

In the letter, Strategy described this draft as "new wine in old bottles," pointing to the failed attempt in 2025—when MSCI tried to exclude companies holding more than 50% digital assets from certain indices but was ultimately forced to withdraw amid controversy. Now, with the label changed from "high digital asset holding companies" to "non-operational companies," Strategy viewed this as essentially a second targeted action against the same type of target, indicating that mainstream index institutions continue to choose conservative or even exclusionary paths when facing digital asset exposure. At present, MSCI has not provided a formal response to this letter, and it remains unclear whether the new proposal will be put to a vote. Digital asset treasury companies can only continue to passively adapt under this uncertainty regarding rules.

Observing the Game Among Hackers, Whales, and Institutions

At the same time, as Lazarus transferred over 30 million dollars in funds through Hyperliquid/HyperUnit, first entering with Bitcoin before being exchanged for ETH and SOL and cross-chain to Tron, Solana, and Ethereum (according to a single source), the scene of Huang Licheng opening a 25x leveraged long position of approximately 40,050 ETH and stacking BTC positions, with a total nominal scale of about 128 million dollars, merged together, making the high-leverage matchmaking DEX suddenly a stage for both the money laundering path of hackers and the gambling story of whales. The on-chain funding path and account positions have drawn factual boundaries, while on the traditional finance side, MSCI first proposed, then withdrew, the elimination proposal for "companies holding over 50% digital assets" in 2025, and now pushed a new adjustment under the name of "non-operational companies," which was publicly criticized by Strategy for being "misguided" and "discriminatory," reflecting the indecision of index compilers on how to define digital asset treasury companies. The next monitoring needs to focus on three clues: first, the currently disclosed funding paths of Lazarus only come from a single analysis report; whether more on-chain tracking can complete addresses and cross-chain details; second, whether Hyperliquid will strengthen compliance screening and risk control after being exposed to both hacker funds and whale high-leverage positions; third, how the retention or withdrawal of high-leverage ETH positions like that of Huang Licheng, alongside the eventual direction of the MSCI new proposal, will shape the market sentiment boundaries between on-chain positions and off-chain index rules in the next phase.

Join our community, let’s discuss and grow stronger together!
AiCoin exclusive Hyperliquid benefits: https://app.hyperliquid.xyz/join/AICOIN88
AiCoin exclusive Aster benefits: https://www.asterdex.com/zh-CN/referral/9C50e2
On-chain Telegram community: https://t.me/AiCoinWhaleData
On-chain community: https://www.aicoin.com/link/chat?cid=N6OVMor5g
AiCoin on-chain Twitter: https://x.com/aicoinwhaledata

免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。