The trader bagged nearly $2 million in profit by investing in the “4” memecoin shortly after Zhao’s social media post following the BNB Chain phishing incident.
A lucky cryptocurrency trader turned a $3,000 investment into roughly $2 million within hours after Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao shared a post about a BNB Chain memecoin on X.
Blockchain data shows the trader, identified by wallet address “0x872,” was one of the earliest buyers of the newly launched “4” ($4) token, according to blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain. The trader’s initial $3,000 worth of BNB (BNB) grew into $2 million, marking a roughly 650-fold return on investment.
Despite the massive gains, the trader sold only a small portion of their holdings and still holds $1.88 million worth of the tokens.
The “4” token was created following a phishing attack on the BNB Chain, where the hacker reportedly made just $4,000 in profit before the community turned the event into a meme.
The trader appears to have sought to capitalize on the social buzz surrounding the memecoin, with their crypto portfolio holding over 98% of their assets in 4.
The trader’s portfolio generated over $1.8 million in unrealized profit over the past week, according to data from CoinStats.
The industry’s most successful cryptocurrency traders, by returns, who are tracked as “smart money” traders on Nansen’s blockchain intelligence platform, have also bought the memecoin.
The “4” memecoin was the third-most-bought token by smart money traders over the past 24 hours on the BNB Chain, with traders acquiring nearly $100,000 worth of the tokens, data from Nansen shows.
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Despite their lack of intrinsic utility, memecoins have previously made millionaires from crypto traders.
In March, another trader reportedly turned a $2,000 investment into as much as $43 million by buying the frog-themed Pepe (PEPE) memecoin. However, the trader held through Pepe’s 74% decline from its all-time high, which saw his unrealized $43 million profit shrink to $10 million when he sold his position.
A separate investor turned $27 into $52 million in May 2024, according to onchain data.
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Interest in the “4” token surged after Zhao reposted the BNB Chain’s statement on the phishing incident to his 8.9 million X followers.
“Interestingly, after the hacker dumped ALL his tokens for a $4k gain, the community took over and bought the meme coin higher, as a mock to the hacker,” wrote Zhao in a Wednesday X post.
Another unknown wallet purchased the memecoin minutes before Zhao’s X post. It was up over $1.5 million just hours after the trade, according to a Wednesday X post by blockchain data visualization platform Bubblemaps.
Zhao’s post came shortly after the BNB Chain’s official X account was temporarily hacked on Wednesday, Cointelegraph reported.
The attacker used the opportunity to share phishing links and promote the memecoin to the page’s over four million followers
