Crypto millionaire James Fickel has fallen into huge debt. Since January, he has amassed losses exceeding $43 million after unsuccessful bets on the price of Ether (ETH) against Bitcoin (BTC) due to market volatility.

The crypto market’s volatility and high-stakes environment create unprecedented opportunities for wealth creation and a substantial risk of significant losses. 

Fickle founded the Amaranth Foundation, a non-profit organization focused on advancing longevity research. In addition to his significant losses, Fickel’s current outstanding debt on the Aave decentralized lending protocol amounts to 1,308.8 WBTC, valued at around $78.8 million.

The Crypto Millionaire Falls into Debt with Aave

On-chain data revealed that Fickle borrowed about 3,061 Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) worth $172 million from Aave on January 10 and exchanged them for 56,445 ETH at a rate of 0.05424. 

The crypto trader intended to go long on Ether against Bitcoin, however, the trade failed to achieve its target due to bearish market momentum.

James Fickel(@jamesfickel) lost ~18,000 $ETH($43.7M) by going long the BTC/ETH trading pair!

From Jan 10 to July 1, he borrowed 3,061 $WBTC(172M) from #Aave and exchanged it for 56,445 $ETH at a rate of 0.05424.

Since Aug 7, he spent 12M $USDC to buy 211 $WBTC and exchanged… pic.twitter.com/9DgLjisPgp

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) September 14, 2024

To minimize losses, Fickle bought 211 WBTC with $12 million USDC and exchanged 16,000 ETH for 671 more WBTC at 0.042 per ETH/BTC. Unfortunately, he failed to yield the desired outcome, resulting in additional losses due to a sharp decline in the ETH/BTC ratio.

Although the Amaranth Foundation’s founder has lost a substantial amount in crypto, he remains a prominent player in the cryptocurrency space, holding a considerable amount of crypto assets.

Data from the blockchain intelligence company Arkham listed Fickle as one of the top five crypto whales with about $3.5 billion in crypto holdings.

In a related report, an unknown crypto trader also suffered similar significant losses, estimated at $12 million. Unlike Fickle, this trader lost his funds after adopting a short position on Bitcoin that did not pan out. He sold his BTC assets, expecting to buy them back later at a lower price to realize a profit.

However, the price of BTC rose, forcing the seller to close their short position and repurchase at a higher price, resulting in a loss.