Lose

James Fickel is one of the world’s richest cryptocurrency investors, with an estimated millionaire crypto net worth of $400 million. The millionaire, however, has lost over $40 million in a series of decentralized finance (DeFi) leveraged trades since January 2024.
In particular, James Fickel has opened long Ethereum (ETH) positions against Bitcoin (BTC)  this year, effectively shorting BTC with ETH. For that, the crypto millionaire has borrowed Wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC) on Aave, trading it for Ethereum’s native token.
He borrowed 3,061 wBTC, worth $172 million, exchanging it for 56,445 ETH from January 10 to July 1. On average, the ETH/BTC exchange rate was 0.05424 wBTC per Ether, according to a Lookonchain report.

However, since August 7, the multi-millionaire crypto investor has been partially closing this position, repaying his debt at a loss. Overall, James Fickel re-purchased 882 wBTC with $12 million in USDC and $39.9 million worth of 16,000 ETH at an average exchange rate of 0.042 ETH/BTC.
The wBTC debt on Aave is now 2,196, worth over $132 million, per the report, losing $43.7 million.