Crypto researcher Eye has carried out an onchain investigation linking the mysterious Hyperliquid whale, who is in control of over 100,000 BTC, to Garett Jin, the former CEO of BitForex. The now-defunct crypto exchange was previously embroiled in a scandal, as fraud allegations trailed the platform’s closure.
In the post on X, the onchain investigator noted that the main wallet of the Hyperliquid whale, ereignis.eth, was connected to another ENS name, garrettjin.eth. The not-so-surprising aspect is that the ENS name leads directly to Jin’s verified handle on X (formerly Twitter), @GarrettBullish.
“The ENS name ereignis.eth (“event” in German) confirms his link to this wallet, identifying him as the actor behind the large-scale operations on Hyperliquid/Hyperunit,” Eye wrote on X.
Onchain investigator links Hyperliquid whale to Garrett Jin
According to the onchain investigator, the wallet activity also matched Jin’s known business dealings, including transfers to staking contracts and addresses funded by exchanges he has had ties with in the past, including Huobi (HTX).
In addition, the whale’s wallet received and sent funds that can be traced back to BitForex-related addresses and to Binance deposits used to open massive trades, including a $735 million Bitcoin short.
Jin was in charge of BitForex from 2017 to 2020. The exchange was later flagged by the Japanese Financial Services Agency for operating without a license, an allegation that came after it was accused of falsifying trading volumes.
Last year, BitForex lost $57 million from its hot wallets. The exchange, based in Hong Kong, halted withdrawals for three days without any reason. According to ZachXBT at the time, the transfers were processed from several hot wallets owned by the exchange.
Crypto analysts divided over the validity of the investigation
After the ZachXBT update, users started reporting problems with their accounts. Some mentioned that they couldn’t access their accounts, while others claimed that they could access, but nothing was showing on their dashboard. Several users shared a pop-up screen that showed they were blocked from accessing the website. Ultimately, Hong Kong’s SFC later issued a warning for suspected fraud, and users claimed millions in unrecovered funds.
After BitForex collapsed, Jin founded and served in several ventures, including WaveLabs VC in 2020, TanglePay in 2021, IotaBee in 2022, before moving on to GroupFi in 2023. However, most of these projects have since become inactive.
In 2024, he launched XHash.com, a platform for institutional Ethereum staking, which investigators claimed may have been used to onboard questionable funds. Since the allegations, Jin has removed XHash from his social media bio, though it remains visible on his Telegram.
Meanwhile, not everyone is convinced that the Hyperliquid whale is the same person as the former BitForex CEO. Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao took to X and said, “Not sure of validity. Hope someone can cross-check”. Crypto analyst Quinton François also expressed skepticism. “Why would you have an .eth name leading to your X handle in a wallet that directly connects to market manipulation wallets and wallets for other crime?” he wrote on X, adding that such a setup “sounds way too simple to be true,” he said.
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