Insider Trading? Early SHIB Trader Nets $4M+ Trading ETH During USDC De-pegging

Lookonchain disclosed that the unknown investor’s funds are now parked in USDT across the 15 addresses.

An early Shiba Inu investor and trader recently bagged over $4 million in profits from trading Ethereum as Circle’s USD Coin (USDC) de-pegged during the weekend.

Blockchain smart money tracker Lookonchain disclosed this in a Twitter thread today. While the trading activity comes from 15 different addresses, Lookonchain disclosed that all 15 addresses had received large sums of SHIB on April 21, 2021, from the same address leading to speculation that they belong to a single entity. 

Notably, the distributing address had purchased SHIB long before its price surge in May 2021, purchasing about 5.5 trillion SHIB for about 180 ETH (~$400k at the time). The same address sold all SHIB holdings through 34 addresses from May through October 2021 for over 35,000 ETH at the peak of the last bull market cycle. Per Lookonchain, this investor swapped all of this for USDC in May 2022, just before the Terra ecosystem collapsed.

The Over $4M Trade

Lookonchain said the 15 addresses linked to this early SHIB trader on Friday purchased 47,670 ETH with 67.58 million USDC at $1,418 per ETH. On Sunday, this unknown entity sold 47,668 ETH at a rate of $1,505 ETH for 71.72 million USDT for a $4.14 million profit or 6% return on investment. 

Unsurprisingly, the trader’s impeccable market timing and decision-making have turned heads and raised eyebrows within the Twitter crypto community, with some speculating that the individual is an insider.

Smart or just insider trading https://t.co/I8L0CcNeFP

— Raycarpio 🇵🇭 | (⚔️,🔮) (@theraycarpio) March 13, 2023

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Lookonchain disclosed that the unknown investor’s funds are now parked in USDT across the 15 addresses. 

Meanwhile, aside from the trade taken by the trader discovered by Lookonchain, it is worth noting that others also raked in significant profit during the USDC de-pegging by betting on the stablecoin’s recovery. 

Algod (@AlgodTrading), who famously wagered on TerraUSD’s de-pegging months in advance, on Saturday asserted that USDC was fundamentally different from UST, implying it would not endure the same fate. Earlier in the day, he alluded to buying some USDC within the $0.93 to $0.94 price range, revealing yesterday that he cashed in some profits at about $0.98.

Bought some more $usdc around .93-.94

Market overreacting + i’m already dead inside anyways

— Algod (@AlgodTrading) March 11, 2023

Mac (@MacnBTC), another highly followed crypto trader, alluded to adding more USDC to his bag at $0.92. On Saturday, he asserted that he expected a $500k profit on the trade.

BUYING $USDC HERE $0.92

ty for free money

— Mac 🐺 (@MacnBTC) March 11, 2023

Big Losers 

While seasoned and smart money investors were able to net significant profits, some unfortunate investors made sizable losses amid the market-wide panic.

For example, as reported by BowTiedPickle.eth (@BowTiedPickle), one unlucky user in haste to convert USDC holdings to USDT ended up swapping over $2 million Curve liquidity pool (LP) tokens for only 0.05 USDT. The user failed to set a slippage while using KyberSwap’s aggregation router, leading to catastrophic loss.

With USDC insolvency fears rampant, users are fleeing to safety in other stables. Not all of them are going to make it there in one piece, however.

Here’s how one unlucky user paid $2,080,468.85 to receive $0.05 of USDT. pic.twitter.com/R8YdudWfsV

— BowTiedPickle.eth | Solidity Shipper (@BowTiedPickle) March 11, 2023

Meanwhile, on the other end, a lucky user’s MEV bot reacted quickly enough to net an over $2 million profit by re-balancing the $2 pool hit by the initial swapper with just $1.45.

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