Trader bets $160M on Bitcoin crash via Hyperliquid

A prominent cryptocurrency trader, previously recognized for accumulating an estimated $150 million from a well-timed short position preceding a significant market downturn, has re-entered the market with a new substantial short on the decentralized exchange Hyperliquid. This strategic move, involving a nominal value exceeding $160 million, underscores the volatility and speculative nature of digital asset trading, particularly in the wake of major geopolitical events that can trigger rapid price fluctuations.

The trader’s latest venture focuses on Bitcoin, with data from HypurrScan indicating an investment exceeding $16 million. This position was established with a 10x leverage at a price of $117,370. At the time of this analysis, the unrealized profit surpassed $4 million, with a liquidation price point at $123,500. This liquidation threshold is notably below the recent historical high of Bitcoin, which approached $126,000, suggesting a potentially tight margin for the position’s sustainability amidst market volatility.

This particular trader first garnered significant attention due to an exceptionally profitable short position that coincided with an announcement by U.S. President Donald Trump regarding substantial import tariffs on goods from China. This statement precipitated a sharp decline across the cryptocurrency market, leading to record-breaking liquidations on both centralized and decentralized platforms. According to analyst Specter, the initial profitable trade involved approximately $80 million in Bitcoin and $30 million in Ethereum, yielding an estimated $158 million in profits within a week.

The precision of the trader’s entry timing relative to President Trump’s public statement has been a subject of intense discussion within the crypto community. Investigator and blogger Coffeezilla highlighted this near-perfect synchronization in a post on X, noting that the final short was placed just minutes before Trump’s tariff announcement. Such uncanny timing has fueled speculation about the trader’s informational advantage or predictive capabilities.

Further analysis has surfaced a potential, albeit tenuous, connection between the trader’s address and Garrett Jin, the former CEO of the now-bankrupt BitForex exchange. Blockchain analyst Eye has identified that a wallet depositing to the same Binance address as the trader’s has previously transferred 40,000 USDT to an address associated with the ENS name ereignis.eth, which also has an alternative ENS name, garrettjin.eth. This occurred approximately two weeks before the trader initiated their large short position.

However, this proposed link has been met with skepticism from some prominent figures in the crypto analytics space. ZachXBT, a crypto analyst, has characterized the connection as primarily based on a single USDT transfer, labeling the remainder of the hypothesis as speculative. ZachXBT suggests it is more probable that the trader is simply an acquaintance of Jin rather than Jin himself.

Adding another layer to the narrative, analyst Emmett Gallic reported that Garrett Jin has maintained an active position on Polymarket, a platform for event-based prediction markets, concerning political outcomes. Specifically, Jin has reportedly been acquiring “Yes” shares on the likelihood of President Trump pardoning Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao in 2025. This prediction market position, valued at around $40,000, has seen gains exceeding $11,000 due to the increasing perceived probability of such an event.

In the broader context of Hyperliquid, the platform has experienced significant user losses exceeding $1.23 billion due to the recent market collapse. In contrast to the opacity sometimes associated with liquidations on centralized exchanges, Jeff Yan, the founder of the blockchain, has pointed to Hyperliquid’s on-chain mechanisms as providing real-time transparency for all transactions, liquidations, and system solvency, suggesting a greater degree of verifiable integrity.