ETH whale loses $106M in massive DeFi liquidation
Wider panic across the market
An ETH whale has lost over $100 million following a major liquidation on lending platform Sky (formerly MakerDAO) amid a broader market crash. The incident has become one of the largest liquidations in DeFi history.
The event highlights the vulnerability of DeFi protocols during market-wide selloffs — this time triggered by Donald Trump’s tariff policies.
According to Cryptonews.com, the loss occurred on April 6, when an Ethereum whale was liquidated on Sky after failing to maintain the required collateralization ratio. The user lost 67,570 ETH, valued at approximately $106 million.
How it happened
Sky uses an overcollateralized lending model, requiring borrowers to deposit significantly more ETH than the value of the borrowed DAI. When ETH’s market value falls, collateral ratios shrink, making positions vulnerable to automatic liquidation.
As ETH plunged to a 7-month low of $1,547 — its sharpest one-day drop since October 2023 — Sky’s liquidation system kicked in.
According to DeFi Explore and Lookonchain, the liquidation was triggered when the user’s collateral ratio fell to 144%, below Sky’s 150% minimum requirement. This allowed the protocol to seize and auction off the user’s ETH collateral.
Within hours, the whale’s massive position was wiped out — marking one of the most dramatic DeFi liquidations ever recorded.
Wider panic across the market
The incident wasn’t isolated. According to Spot On Chain, another large holder, who had 56,995 wrapped ETH (around $91M) posted as collateral, narrowly avoided liquidation by injecting emergency capital.
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Meanwhile, a third anonymous whale — on the verge of losing 220,000 ETH (worth $340M) — took radical steps by repaying $3.52 million in DAI and adding 10,000 ETH to their vault, pushing the liquidation price down to $1,119.30.
If ETH falls to that level, the whale's entire 220,000 ETH would be liquidated — but for now, that scenario has not materialized. At the time of writing, ETH was trading at around $1,550, down 11% in the past 24 hours.
Price dynamics of ETH for 24 hours. Source: CoinMarketCap
However, with Ethereum falling below 0.02 BTC — a key psychological level not seen since early 2020 — analysts have warned that the ETH/BTC ratio could slide further, possibly to 0.01615 BTC (last seen in September 2019) or even 0.0128 BTC (March 2017), if the trend persists.
So far in 2025, ETH is down 44% against BTC and remains 79% below its 2021 peak, which was driven by DeFi and NFT mania.
Ethereum's price recently crashed to a fresh two-year low after a dramatic decline over the past week. A combination of bearish market conditions and a high-profile liquidation event has left Ether investors facing heavy losses.
