Max Hamaha outmaneuvered seven elite traders to win WhiteBIT’s inaugural 2025 International Crypto Trading Cup, pocketing a portion of the $5 million prize bounty as the sole survivor of a titillating live trading e-sports style event over two days.
On May 9–10, 2025, the crypto world witnessed a historic event that redefined competitive trading: the International Crypto Trading Cup (ICTC) 2025, the first-ever live-streamed global crypto trading championship, sponsored by WhiteBIT, Europe’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by traffic.
This e-sports-style showdown brought together eight elite traders from Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, each of whom started with $50,0000 in a stablecoin to trade with, all competing for a prize pool of up to 5 million USDT.
With expert commentators, in-depth strategy analysis, live trader interviews motes, and exclusive interviews, ICTC 2025 set a new benchmark for an e-sports style event in crypto, bringing together the traders for an event unlike any other.
“Crypto trading has all the necessary components for a spectacular format: strategy, emotions, and strong personalities with extraordinary stories,” WhiteBIT Founder, Volodymyr Nosov, told the audience assembled at the Andorra Park Hotel for the awards ceremony.
The event’s e-sports-like format, with traders competing under intense conditions—no bots, no external tools, and a minimum of three trades per hour—mirrored the high-stakes drama of poker or gaming championships. TradingView, the official technological partner, powered the live trading platform, while Tether, a title sponsor, ensured a secure and stable prize pool, denominated in a special stablecoin produced exclusively for the event called USDB.
More than a competition, ICTC 2025 was a platform for learning. “Our mission is mass blockchain adoption, and with ICTC, we aim to make crypto trading accessible and exciting in a brand-new format,” Nosov added.
The event’s educational focus allowed viewers to analyze professional strategies, engage in live discussions, and compare their own approaches with the pros. Live interviews with traders offered exclusive insights into their mental preparation, risk management, and market navigation, making every trade a lesson.
Driven by the event’s format, traders ventured into uncharacteristically risky bets over the two days, which tested their skills and posed unique challenges that tested the limits of their strategies.
Taking positions with 50x or 100x leverage created risky conditions that traders were willing to take due to the nature and format of the tournament.
Malik Roth Klindt Jensen, a trader from the UAE who participated in the event and came in fourth place, told crypto.news that due to the limited time frame of the event posed challenges to his normal strategy. “It’s very difficult to trade on skill,” he said. “For it to be based on skill, it has to be based on a longer time frame.”
The event did not go off without a hitch. Several traders complained about glitches with the internet, and trades that included abnormal slippages that resulted in much less than expected profits.
Others who participated in the event concurred. According to Luca Boiardi, a trader from Italy who came in fifth place, “I think luck plays a major role in a tournament like this. It was not a natural environment, but that was the entire point, it was very challenging.”
The winner of the event, a trader from Ukraine named Max Hamaha, told crypto.news that the event created unique conditions that forced him into positions he would not normally take. Hamaha, who hosts a popular channel on YouTube that covers crypto trading and broadcasts to an audience of over 100,000 subscribers, has over 17 years of experience as a trader. In addition, he has also recently launched a popular memecoin on the TON (TON) network called Gaileo (GGAI). “In an event like this, traders have to take risks based on the format, which creates conditions that most traders are not used to.”
Still, many predict such competitions could carve a new niche in crypto culture, blending intellectual rigor with real-time drama. As Alex Kozenko, WhiteBIT’s CMO, emphasized, “this is the first event where anyone could test their skills in real-time, against seasoned professionals. We look forward to organizing this event again next year.“
