Garrett Jin is not an unknown figure. After graduating from Boston University with a degree in economics in 2008, he joined China Construction Bank and later founded the Hong Kong trading company Da Yo Trading in 2012. In 2015, he joined Huobi as the Chief Operating Officer, becoming one of the key players in the early cryptocurrency scene. In 2017, he moved to Europe and became the CEO of BitForex—a trading platform that once surged into the global top ten during a bull market but ultimately collapsed due to inflated trading volumes, a financial black hole, and regulatory risks. In early 2024, BitForex was forced to shut down, and during that time, a large amount of Bitcoin flowed out of the exchange. Years later, the traces of these Bitcoins were found reappearing behind the massive short positions on Hyperliquid. At that moment, the dual shadows of wealth and power overlapped once again.
Blockchain analyst Eye's tracking revealed even stranger on-chain details: this whale held over 100,000 Bitcoins and sold approximately 35,000 BTC through multiple addresses between August and September, exchanging them for $4.23 billion worth of Ethereum, of which 570,000 ETH was staked to the same contract. More shockingly, part of the transaction fees flowed to an ENS domain named "garrettjin.eth," which is linked to the account @GarrettBullish on X (formerly Twitter). Almost simultaneously, Garrett modified his social media profile, removing “@XHash_com” and hiding his Telegram contact information. The synchronized "contraction" of on-chain and social media almost confirmed the event—this mysterious short seller was indeed the former central figure.
Garrett Jin's story is not just a drama of wealth but a conflict between technological ideals and capital realities. In this so-called "decentralized" world, information asymmetry still exists, even more secretly. The cryptocurrency industry's "transparent ledger" becomes a curtain that conceals true motives in the face of whale operations. Those who can act in advance are often not the smartest but the closest to power.
The collapse of BitForex, the past of Huobi, and the migration of funds all remind people: decentralization has not eliminated human greed; it has merely changed to a more complex expression. Garrett once founded the non-custodial staking platform XHash, advocating for "de-trust," yet was accused of using the same mechanism to obscure the source of funds. The original intention of technology was to dissolve trust costs, but in the context of capital, it can also become another way of saying "trust me." When trust is no longer defined by institutions but shared by code, algorithms, and personal credibility, transparency ironically becomes a new illusion.
The symbolic significance of this event far exceeds the on-chain transfers themselves. It reveals a new reality: in a market dominated by algorithms, the real advantage lies not in information disclosure but in data comprehension and capital deployment speed. When people think blockchain "decentralizes power," the new oligarchs have already emerged, hidden behind addresses and contracts.
After the event was exposed, Hyperliquid's trading volume surged by 300% in just a few days, with many investors blindly following the trend to short, attempting to replicate the "whale logic," only to be liquidated in a faster liquidity cycle. Meanwhile, well-known analyst ZachXBT pointed out: "These Bitcoins may not come from a single entity." His cautious stance turned the event from a "smoking gun" into a cold case. Regulatory bodies quickly tightened their grip. Financial authorities in Hong Kong and Singapore strengthened monitoring of large on-chain fund flows, and several centralized platforms updated their risk control models, beginning to scrutinize large accounts with short-term abnormal transfers.
But deeper ripples came from public opinion. Some view Garrett as the "Wall Street wolf who dares to gamble and win," admiring his precise judgment and capital courage; others believe he represents the deepest original sin of the crypto world—the imbalance of power, information, and trust. On social media, the topics "Garrett is a genius" and "Garrett is a fraud" polarize into extremes, and this rift is the most authentic reflection of the crypto world: a market without boundaries, regulation, or time differences is redefining the meaning of "winner."
Looking back at this storm, it is not hard to see that it is not an isolated case. From BitMEX's Arthur Hayes to FTX's Sam Bankman-Fried, and now to Garrett Jin, every time a "whale surfaces," it questions the crypto order. Can decentralization truly resist human nature? When algorithms replace trust, do humans still hold the initiative of morality and order? As former Binance CEO Zhao Changpeng commented after the incident: "I hope someone can cross-verify the truth." But in a world built on smart contracts and anonymous wallets, the definition of truth itself becomes blurred.
Today, Garrett Jin still controls about 46,000 Bitcoins, worth over $5 billion. He has not publicly responded and has not reappeared. This silence feels both like evasion and a declaration. It forces people to reflect again: in a world named "trust machine," how much trust can still remain? When capital can precisely manipulate emotions and algorithms can make decisions for people, are we truly freer, or are we bound more gently?
Perhaps the true significance of this event lies not in finding out "who won," but in reminding the entire industry—that when the collapse of trust becomes the norm, transparency no longer means truth. The future of the crypto world may not be defined by the next bull market but shaped by the shadows lingering in these gray areas.
Related: Analysts say the market crash "will not affect long-term fundamentals."
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