A crypto investigator has drawn a connection between a Hyperliquid whale controlling over 100,000 BTC and Garrett Jin, the former CEO of the defunct BitForex exchange, which is currently embroiled in a significant fraud scandal. This revelation raises substantial questions regarding Jin's financial probity and past conduct.
The link was established by on-chain researcher Eye, who shared findings on social media indicating that the whale's primary wallet, named ereignis.eth, is associated with another ENS name, garrettjin.eth. This secondary name directly corresponds to Jin's verified public account.
Prior to his involvement in the cryptocurrency sector, Jin obtained an economics degree from Boston University in 2008 and subsequently interned with the China Construction Bank until 2011. In 2012, he founded Da Yo Trading (HK), successfully managing the company until 2014.
Jin transitioned to the crypto industry, serving as Operations Director at Huobi (HTX) until 2015. Following this, he relocated to Frankfurt and co-founded FuLang Medical Germany GmbH, a position he relinquished in 2017.
From 2017 to 2020, Jin held the CEO position at BitForex, a tenure marked by controversy. The exchange faced accusations of deliberately inflating trading volumes, leading to a reprimand from Japan’s FSA in 2023 for operating without proper registration.
In February 2024, BitForex experienced a security breach where hot wallets were compromised, resulting in the unexplained withdrawal of $57 million. The exchange's website subsequently went offline, preventing user access, halting withdrawals, and ceasing all operations, triggering a public scandal.
BitForex claimed that its team members were arrested and under investigation by police in Jiangsu province, China, while promising to restore withdrawals. However, the exchange ultimately ceased operations, prompting a fraud warning from Hong Kong’s SFC.
Following the collapse of BitForex, users voiced grievances regarding denied payments and asset mismanagement, with many reportedly losing their assets. The on-chain analysis now links Jin directly to large-scale Hyperliquid operations.
Jin is also the founder of XHash.com, an institutional non-custodial ETH staking platform slated for launch in 2024. The platform's potential use of staked ETH raised concerns about the possible introduction of questionable funds into the new venture.
These ongoing controversies cast a shadow over Jin's financial integrity, particularly given his prior involvement in alleged fraudulent activities. Following the revelation of the link to the Hyperliquid whale, Jin swiftly removed XHash.com from his X profile bio and changed his profile picture, although XHash remains in his Telegram bio.