Machi Brother’s Leverage Game: Where Does the “Unlosable” Money Come From?

Last night, the crypto market witnessed another intense wave of liquidations.

High-profile investor Jeff Huang, also known as “Machi Big Brother,” saw his long positions on the decentralized derivatives platform Hyperliquid liquidated 10 times in rapid succession. His account balance plunged from $1.3 million to just $53,178—less than 5% of its original value.

This is the brutal reality of high-leverage trading: over $1.25 million was wiped out in just a few hours.

Ironically, just days earlier, he had injected $254,700 USDC into Hyperliquid, pushing his ETH long position to 11,100 ETH, valued at more than $36 million. Yet, within days, both this fresh capital and his previous reserves were obliterated by the unforgiving leverage machine.

If the story ended here, it would simply be another cautionary tale of a high-leverage gambler’s downfall.

But this isn’t the first time he’s pulled off such “legendary” trades. Back on October 10, 2025, he suffered an even more dramatic liquidation: a $79 million ETH long position was forcibly closed, flipping his account from a $44.5 million profit to a $10 million net loss—a swing exceeding $54.5 million.

After each prior liquidation, he immediately topped up his margin to start the next high-stakes round: $199,800 deposited on December 12, $275,000 on November 5, and another $254,700 just a few days ago…

Adding to the irony, while the media was abuzz with reports of his staggering losses, Huang posted a poolside photo on Instagram with the caption, “California Love.”

Last night’s 10 consecutive liquidations sent his account balance back to rock bottom—just $53,178. But given his past behavior, it’s likely a matter of time before he injects new capital and resumes his high-leverage bets.

This leads to the question everyone wants answered: After repeatedly enduring multimillion-dollar losses and mechanically replenishing his margin each time, where does his money come from?

The Leverage Frenzy

To understand Huang’s capital sources, you first have to recognize his trading style in the crypto market—extreme aggression.

He is primarily active on Hyperliquid, a decentralized derivatives exchange that uses the HyperBFT high-performance consensus mechanism to achieve “millisecond-level trade matching.” While impressive, this speed introduces structural risks during volatile markets: high-leverage positions can be liquidated instantly and mechanically, leaving traders “no chance to escape.”

Huang thrives on this kind of extreme play. On-chain data shows he routinely uses 15x to 25x leverage for ETH long trades. With leverage this high, a market drop of just 4–6% can wipe out his margin entirely. Last night’s 10 consecutive liquidations are a textbook example of extreme leverage in a volatile market.

Behind this relentless trading style is a startling reality: no matter how much he loses, he can immediately replenish his margin and keep betting big. From a $54.5 million swing to last night’s near-zero account, after every massive loss, he injects hundreds of thousands of dollars—sometimes rebuilding positions worth tens of millions.

The fact that he can instantly deploy new margin after losing tens of millions proves these losses don’t exhaust his net worth. Instead, he draws from dedicated, highly liquid trading reserves.

So how did this seemingly bottomless pool of capital come to exist?

Where Does the Money Come From? The Three-Layer Capital Structure

Layer One: Anchor Capital from Traditional Tech

Huang’s wealth isn’t built solely on crypto assets. Before becoming a “crypto gambling legend,” he was a successful tech entrepreneur.

In 2015, Huang co-founded 17 Media (later M17 Entertainment/17LIVE), which quickly became Asia’s leading live entertainment platform. After a failed New York IPO in 2018, the company successfully listed in Singapore in 2023.

The pivotal financial event came in November 2020, when Huang resigned from the 17LIVE board and the company bought back his shares.

This buyback happened just before the 2021 crypto bull market, providing Huang with “anchor capital”—liquidity from a mature enterprise that gave him a solid foundation for high-risk crypto investments and enabled him to withstand significant short-term losses in derivatives trading.

Layer Two: Controversial Early Crypto Projects

Beyond traditional tech, Huang was deeply involved in early crypto projects—a history marked by controversy.

The most prominent example is Mithril (MITH), a decentralized social media platform he founded. The project was later criticized as “all concept, poor execution, and no real users.” While MITH tokens collapsed by over 99% after the market cooled and the project was delisted in 2022, public reports confirm that the issuer “made a lot of money” in the early days.

This is typical of the 2017–2018 ICO era: regardless of long-term value or viability, founders could secure substantial capital through initial token sales, while retail investors suffered heavy losses after project collapses.

Huang also co-founded the decentralized lending protocol Cream Finance (CREAM), which suffered several major security breaches in 2021—including a $34 million exploit and a $130 million flash loan attack.

It’s important to note that the ultimate failure of these early projects caused significant losses for investors. This background is for context only and does not constitute investment advice.

Layer Three: NFT Empire Liquidity Extraction

Building on traditional capital and early crypto projects, Huang uses NFT assets as financial instruments to generate highly liquid crypto assets and replenish his trading reserves.

Huang is a well-known collector of blue-chip NFT series like Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC). As of June 2023, his Ethereum wallet, machibigbrother.eth, held NFTs valued at over $9.5 million.

But his NFT strategy goes far beyond collecting—it’s an advanced financial play focused on liquidity generation:

Massive Sell-Offs: In February 2023, he sold 1,010 NFTs in 48 hours—“one of the largest NFT sell-offs in history.”

ApeCoin Monetization: In August 2022, he sold 13 MAYC NFTs (worth about $350,000) in one week and transferred 1.496 million ApeCoin to Binance.

Blur Liquidity Mining: He was a major recipient of the Blur token airdrop and actively used the Blur Blend platform for NFT-collateralized lending, at one point being the platform’s largest lender, providing 58 loans totaling 1,180 ETH.

This high-frequency, large-scale selling and NFT lending is designed to maximize airdrop rewards and convert high-value digital assets into highly liquid ETH or stablecoins, constantly fueling his derivatives trading reserves.

It’s worth noting that Huang also incurred costs in Blur NFT liquidity mining. He realized a loss of around 2,400 ETH (about $4.2 million) while mining tokens with Bored Ape NFTs. However, these losses were likely offset by substantial gains from large Blur airdrops and other asset liquidations.

The Perpetual Capital Machine

Huang’s ability to absorb tens of millions in liquidation losses and immediately reopen aggressive positions comes from a diversified, massive capital structure:

Traditional Tech Exit: Substantial, stable fiat liquidity from the 2020 sale of 17LIVE shares

Early Crypto-Native Capital: Despite controversy, early token issuances accumulated real crypto-native capital

High-Speed NFT Liquidity Generation: Strategically converting blue-chip NFT assets into margin-usable ETH or stablecoins through large-scale sales, airdrop rewards, and NFT-collateralized lending

Given his publicly confirmed liquidation and P&L reversal totals (over $54.5 million) and his ability to inject hundreds of thousands of dollars in margin after each event, his unallocated liquid reserves are conservatively estimated at over $100 million.

Even after 10 consecutive liquidations last night, leaving just $53,178 in his account, his history suggests he’ll inject new funds soon. Huang’s calm demeanor—posting a poolside photo captioned “California Love” after his losses made headlines—shows these liquidations, while massive, don’t threaten his overall solvency.

More importantly, Huang’s strategy isn’t limited to trading existing assets—he also launches new capital generation mechanisms. At the end of 2024, he introduced the MACHI token project on the Blast blockchain, aiming to raise $5 million in liquidity through a “benchmark value event” and quickly attracting investors declaring $125 million in capital.

This cycle—traditional exit → early crypto projects → NFT mining → derivatives trading → new token issuance (MACHI)—reveals a relentless model of capital extraction and redeployment. When one liquidity source is locked or depleted by high-risk positions, he immediately launches a new community-driven token project to refresh his reserves.

Summary

With fully transparent on-chain trading, Huang serves as a major—if controversial—market barometer. His trade size is large enough to move markets and spark debate.

For most investors, however, Huang’s story is a warning, not a model.

First, high-leverage trading carries extreme risk. With 25x leverage, a 4% market drop wipes out your entire principal. Even with deep pockets, Huang has lost tens of millions in these trades.

Second, capital depth determines risk tolerance. Huang can instantly replenish his margin after huge losses because he has diversified capital sources and deep liquidity. Most investors do not—a single liquidation could be fatal.

Third, on-chain transparency is a double-edged sword. While it satisfies users’ desire for data openness, HyperBFT’s mechanical liquidation process eliminates the possibility of manual risk hedging during market shocks. The platform’s efficiency itself amplifies structural risk for high-leverage traders.

Huang’s reliance on extreme leverage and his ongoing launch of new token projects mean his financial activities will continue to drive significant market volatility. His capital model shows how traditional tech wealth and crypto-native capital can combine to sustain the most aggressive trading styles in crypto.

But for every investor, the real question is:

Do you want to be the one creating liquidity, or the one providing it?

In this market, surviving always outweighs chasing windfall gains.

Statement:

1. This article is reproduced from [Baihua Blockchain]. Copyright belongs to the original author [Clow]. If you have concerns about this reprint, please contact the Gate Learn team, who will address it promptly per relevant procedures.
2. Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not constitute investment advice.
3. Other language versions are translated by the Gate Learn team. Without mentioning Gate, do not copy, distribute, or plagiarize the translated article.