The core facts of the claim—whale 0x218A depositing approximately 2 million USDC into Hyperliquid to open leveraged short positions—are confirmed by multiple reputable crypto news outlets (Binance Square, Bitget, MEXC) and on-chain monitoring services (Onchain Lens). While some reports specify a 10x leverage on ETH and a deposit of 2.18 million USDC, the user's claim of 5x BTC and 20x ETH shorts likely refers to the same series of transactions or a specific breakdown of the whale's total $10 million exposure reported by the same sources.