Original Title: A Difficult Personal Decision
Original Author: @TheWhiteWhaleV2
Translated by: Peggy, BlockBeats
Editor's Note: After the 10·10 incident, the crypto industry underwent a painful but necessary introspection. When a failure of a centralized trading platform is enough to trigger a network-wide liquidation cascade, how much pressure can the "decentralization" we rely on truly withstand?
The author of this article is a well-known trader who has been deeply involved in crypto trading for a long time and has over 70,000 followers on platform X. His goal is to achieve a trading performance of $100 million. In August of this year, he publicly recorded a total profit of $95 million on HyperLiquid, stating that if the performance of other platforms is included, the total has "exceeded $100 million." As October began, his career profit and loss remained positive, and he has "maintained eight-digit profits this year."
However, on October 10, he experienced his first-ever liquidation in a network-wide liquidation cascade, suffering a single loss of approximately $62 million, with a drawdown of about 62%. Even so, he emphasized that he "is still in profit" and continues to rebuild his position by selling HYPE tokens and other means.
He has publicly praised HyperLiquid founder Jeff as a "Nobel laureate of crypto," but today he chose to leave HyperLiquid. In his view, this is not disappointment, but rather a shift in values. He calls for the industry to move from "protecting protocols" to "protecting users," transitioning from celebrating zero bad debts to establishing a true risk buffer mechanism. After all, a mature financial system would never rely solely on "good luck" and "hope" as its last safety net.
The following is the original text:
The Protocol Is Not Dead, But the Users Are "Dead"
I made a personal decision: I will no longer trade on HyperLiquid.
I want to emphasize the word "personal"—and it was a very difficult decision. I do not want anyone to follow me; I am simply choosing to act according to my changing values.
Many people have witnessed the evolution of my thoughts along this journey. As humans, we should evolve, reflect, let go of old frameworks, and build better new ones.
And I know that people often say not to develop an emotional dependency on a protocol. But HyperLiquid is indeed different for me. Jeff created something that the market desperately needed. He brought the issue of "structural fairness" into the spotlight, opening up better discussions for the entire industry. He and the HL team deserve to leave their mark in the history of crypto. I sincerely hope they continue to write their story.
But if you have followed me long enough, you also know that I am an idealist, perhaps even overly so. I cannot shut off that part of my brain: I can see things as they are now, while always insisting on how they "should" be.
On October 10, many newcomers saw the truth of the industry. For those who have been around long enough, it was just another reminder: this ecosystem is still fragile and still easily manipulated.
A centralized trading platform can trigger a global liquidation cascade, briefly crashing the prices of all protocols? This is not a "black swan"; it is a design flaw.
Let’s briefly review the events of that day:
Binance used its own oracle—resulting in stablecoins becoming unpegged. This triggered a small but manageable liquidation chain. The real chaos began when their API mysteriously went "offline." Delta-neutral market makers suddenly found themselves unable to hedge in the main off-exchange. Without the ability to hedge, they could only withdraw quotes from CEX and DEX. Liquidity vanished, and prices plummeted.
And what about the entire industry? A chorus of celebration. "Zero bad debts!" "Liquidation executed perfectly!"
Great, the protocol is not dead, but the users are.
Protecting the protocol is important, that is obvious. But "protecting the protocol" does not equal "protecting traders." If we want broader adoption, want greater legitimacy, and want the crypto industry to continue developing without being choked by regulation, we must build genuine consumer protection from a systemic level.
TradFi has circuit breakers, market maker obligations, and structural safeguards. What does the crypto industry have? Hope. And a manual: "Good luck!"
So why am I leaving HyperLiquid? Because I choose to support those teams that actively address these design flaws, rather than merely observing the problems.
I have spoken with Jeff and another member of Core 11. They do not seem to think this is part of the current roadmap. That is their choice, and I respect it.
But it must be made clear: no one has a perfect solution, no silver bullet. What matters to me is: who is moving towards solutions, rather than ignoring the problems.
On 10/10, we lost many people. Real lives ended. Real families were destroyed.
The reason is simply… a design flaw that allows a single entity to control global prices? The crypto industry cannot sweep this under the rug.
Protecting users should not rely solely on "good luck."
So the question becomes: who is truly building protective mechanisms to avoid the next "Binance-style disaster"?
On Solana, I found only one. Drift's liquidation protection is not magic, nor is it perfect, but it genuinely exists. More importantly, it works.
It checks: "Is the oracle price deviating from the 5-minute TWAP by more than 50%?"
If so, it temporarily pauses liquidation. It is this simple logic that saved many people.
False breakouts are filtered out. The insurance fund covers extreme situations.
It is not a grand philosophical revolution, but a key step towards rationality.
I am not as smart as Jeff, nor do I dare to claim to know the best industry-level solutions. But I am a user, and users vote with their own funds.
The industry keeps repeating one phrase: "Protecting the protocol is protecting traders." But that is not the whole picture. A car without a driver is not a complete system. Both are equally important, forming a wonderful symbiotic relationship.
This article feels like a heartbreaking letter to me.
It is not an advertisement for Drift. It feels more like a gut-wrenching breakup. Not because the love is gone, but because you finally realize that you are heading in different directions.
HL will always be a part of my story. When others ask me where to trade, it will still be on my recommendation list.
But now, it is time for me to move forward—towards my values, towards my ideals.
And with sincere gratitude, I say to Jeff and the team: "At least we will always have Paris."
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