Crypto Millionaire Loses $43 Million In Trading Bet, Rakes Up $132 Million In Debt

The crypto industry is known for its volatility and high-risk trading, which can turn sour if not properly managed, even for very experienced crypto traders. One such loss is the case of crypto millionaire James Fickel, who has seen his bold bet on Ethereum put him with staggering losses.

Data shows that Fickel has lost a substantial amount of money, more than $43 million, since January 10. Furthermore, Fickel has seen his debt on his Ethereum trade surging to $132 million.

Fickel’s troubles began in January when he made a high-risk bet that Ethereum would outperform Bitcoin in 2024. To execute and profit from this strategy, he took out a massive $172 million loan of Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) from Aave, a decentralized crypto lending platform. With this loan, Fickel bought a total of 56,445 ETH at a rate of 0.05424 BTC per ETH, banking on Ethereum gaining value relative to Bitcoin. 

Unfortunately for Fickel, 2024 has not been a good year for Ethereum in comparison to Bitcoin. BTC has had a wonderful year since the launch of Spot Bitcoin ETFs in the United States. Although Spot Ethereum ETFs have also made their way into the US market, they have struggled to keep up with Bitcoin ETFs in terms of inflows. 

According to data from Tradingview, the ETH/BTC pair has fallen by over 34% since January 11, with analyses pointing to further declines. This lag in Ethereum’s price growth started to decrease Fickel’s position as the value of his ETH holdings began to dwindle.

By August 7th, it became clear to Fickel that the strategy wasn’t probably going to pay off. Since then, he has spent $12 million worth of USDC to purchase 211 WBTC and traded another 16,000 ETH for an additional 671 WBTC to repay some of his debt on Aave.

As of now, Fickel still owes 2,196 WBTC he needs to repay to Aave, which amounts to around $132 million in debt. According to on-chain data from Lookonchain, James Fickel has lost approximately 18,000 ETH, valued at $43.7 million, since the beginning of the year. 

James Fickel ranks among the largest individual holders of Ethereum with a net worth exceeding $400 million. His rise to crypto prominence came during the early days of Ethereum, when he reportedly purchased $400,000 worth of ETH at just $0.80 per coin, a move that laid the foundation for his significant wealth.

At the time of writing, Ethereum is trading at $2,415, while Bitcoin is trading at $60,100. Despite both cryptocurrencies showing gains over the past week, Bitcoin continues to outshine Ethereum with a 10.2% increase compared to Ethereum’s 5.1% rise.

Featured image from Pexels, chart from TradingView