How a $60 Million Crypto Fortune Vanished in Just 47 Days? The Tragic Story of Huang Licheng

In the rollercoaster world of cryptocurrency, few stories are as compelling, dramatic, and cautionary as that of Huang Licheng, aka “Machi Big Brother.” From meteoric rise to shocking fall, Huang Licheng’s roller coaster ride through the crypto space reflects the volatility, the power of ambition, the pitfalls of high-risk speculation, and the volatility that have come to define the crypto era. In this article, we follow Huang Licheng from the dizzying heights of fame and wealth to a precipitous financial collapse. We’ll explore the perils of high-risk speculation, the dangers of asset leverage, the fragile nature of riches, and the fast-moving world of crypto.

The Rise of Huang Licheng: Changing Taiwan’s Hip-Hop Scene

Always at the cutting edge of technology and cultural currents, Huang Licheng was born in Yunlin, Taiwan, in 1972, and came to California with his parents as an immigrant at age two. He has been a member of the street culture from his childhood, and rose up to become one of the leaders of the newly developing hip-hop culture in Taiwan. Huang, his brother, and his cousin created the ground-breaking hip-hop trio LA Boyz in the early ’90s, writing and performing in both Mandarin and English, and setting the stage for hip-hop groups in the Chinese-speaking world. LA Boyz became part of Taiwanese pop culture lore, and Huang Licheng became a household name.

However, as the Taiwanese music scene developed in the late 1990s, LA Boyz diminished, and Huang transitioned from entertainment to business. He established Machi Entertainment in 2003, stepping back from the limelight to run the company, going from being an artist to an entrepreneur. This was just the start of Huang’s many business ventures, with Huang earning a reputation for being able to recognize trends in a variety of sectors, from technology to social media.

Huang’s 17 Media Was a Hit, But His Next Move Was a $50M Disaster!

By 2015, Huang had turned his attention to the technology industry. He founded the social application 17 Media, which allowed users to communicate via live-streaming. The app went on to become a viral success in Taiwan and Southeast Asia, thrusting Huang into the technology spotlight and drawing both attention and investment. The application faced multiple controversies and management problems, which were common in Huang’s business ventures, including explicit content issues and regulatory challenges. Huang sold his stake in the company and moved on to other projects.

Huang Licheng, as the founder of 17 Media, gave a speech at MOX Demo Day.

Huang first started to become associated with cryptocurrency in 2017 when he launched Mithril (MITH). The project was a blockchain-based social media platform that was supposed to change the ways that people can create and share content. MITH aimed to reward content creators through “social mining“. It raised more than $50 million in funding, but the project was quickly a failure, and MITH’s value collapsed. The project’s collapse led to Huang being seen as a crypto profiteer whose projects were made to be flipped.

Entering the Cryptocurrency Whale Game

But Huang’s interest in cryptocurrency only increased after the failure of Mithril. As the ICO boom of 2017 reached its peak, Huang participated in several blockchain projects, including the launch of Formosa Financial in 2018. The platform was intended to trade and manage digital assets, but was unable to gain any real momentum and collapsed under market pressure.

However, Huang’s most infamous project to date has been in the world of decentralized finance (DeFi). Huang got into the 2020 DeFi boom and co-founded lending protocol Cream Finance. The protocol let users lend and borrow crypto assets and quickly found success within the DeFi sector. As with many of his projects, there was a downside to its success, as the protocol was a frequent target for hackers. In 2021, Cream Finance was subject to several attacks and suffered millions of dollars in losses.

Still, Huang has remained a prominent figure in the DeFi space, continuing to launch new projects and engage in speculation. He has been seen as a living embodiment of the crypto market’s rapid-fire approach, often moving quickly from one project to the next in pursuit of the next big thing.

The Meteoric Rise and Fall of Huang on Hyperliquid

By 2025, Huang was at the height of his powers in the crypto world, especially on the decentralized exchange Hyperliquid. The platform had become popular for traders making leveraged trades, and in June of that year, Huang’s account on the platform experienced an influx of unrealized gains. By September, his balance of unrealized gains on Hyperliquid reached $45 million due to a series of successful trades. At his peak, Huang’s total assets on Hyperliquid were approaching $60 million, and he was considered one of the biggest “whales” in the ecosystem.

But Huang’s outsized gains were not to last. Like many crypto traders, Huang’s trades were highly leveraged. The more he leveraged, the larger the risk became. Each trade was increasingly more volatile, and swings against him were more punishing. In October, the market began to move against Huang. Poor decision-making and insane leverage led to liquidations. By the end of the month, Huang had lost a total of $14.5 million.

“Brother Machi’s” Hyperliquid account position profit chart

Huang’s downfall was not without a certain amount of public drama, as his trading account balance dropped from an all-time high of nearly $60 million to just $1,718 over the course of 47 days. Huang’s last-ditch attempts to claw back from that point only resulted in further liquidations as he used up the last of his remaining capital to open more leveraged positions until his account was eventually wiped out in November 2025. The crash was both shocking to the crypto community and an example of the volatility of the cryptocurrency market and how quickly fortunes can be lost.

A Legacy of Losses and Lessons

Huang Licheng’s story is about the re-invention of a lifetime, the endless search for a higher rung on the ladder of wealth and power, and the fine line between success and failure. Huang Licheng’s career saw him go from a hip-hop artist to a software entrepreneur, and finally to a crypto whale. It was his ability to find and tap into trends that allowed him to swiftly shift career tracks, and yet another opportunity that has made Huang a recognizable figure. But his meltdown on Hyperliquid is a sobering reminder of the volatility of the crypto market, and of the risk of high-leverage speculation.

In a larger sense, Huang Licheng’s downfall in the crypto market shows the other side of the coin of trading in volatile markets and how that volatility can lead to both quick success and instant failure. In the world of cryptocurrencies and decentralized finance, one wonders whether there is any lesson in Huang’s misfortune, or whether others will follow the same pattern of meteoric ascension and cataclysmic collapse. Huang Licheng’s narrative is also a window into a culture of speculation. A realm in which there is no middle ground, and everything and anything can be subject to fortune turning on a dime.

As Huang himself put it, “It was fun while it lasted.” In a world where the only constant is change, the rise and fall of Machi Big Brother serves as a potent reminder of the high stakes in the game of crypto trading.

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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Cryptocurrency investments are highly volatile and risky. Always conduct your own research and consult with a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions.