Garrett Jin’s $36M Zcash Short and the Whale Trades Raising New Questions

The pairing of a large ZEC short with a HYPE purchase suggests a directional bet combined with exposure to another token in the Hyperliquid ecosystem, though the precise strategy behind the trade remains unclear.

Earlier Whale Trades Linked to Jin

The ZEC trade did not appear in isolation. Investigations by on‑chain analysts and crypto media previously linked a large “Hyperliquid whale” wallet cluster to Garrett Jin, although definitive proof of ownership for every wallet has not been publicly established.

Those wallets have been associated with several unusually large crypto trades, including:

• A rotation of more than $4.23 billion in BTC into ETH, executed across spot and derivatives markets.
• A roughly $735 million Bitcoin short position placed on Hyperliquid.
• A portfolio reportedly holding around $900 million in long positions, including about $733 million in Ethereum exposure.

Blockchain researchers linked the wallet cluster to Jin partly through Ethereum Name Service identities such as “ereignis.eth” and “garrettjin.eth,” which appeared connected to accounts associated with him online.

Even with those links, most reporting emphasizes that the attribution comes from third‑party on‑chain analysis rather than official filings or confirmed statements from regulators.

Other Whales Are Also Shorting Zcash

The recent ZEC trade is occurring amid a broader pattern of whale activity in the same market.

For example:

• One trader reportedly deposited about $4.997 million in USDC to defend a leveraged ZEC short on Hyperliquid covering 18,286 ZEC with 10× leverage.
• Another whale labeled “1011” opened a $1.26 million 3× leveraged short on ZEC while maintaining exposure to Bitcoin and holding spot HYPE tokens.

Clusters of leveraged shorts in a smaller‑cap asset like ZEC can significantly increase volatility. Large positions can trigger cascading liquidations or short squeezes, which is why analysts closely watch whale concentration in derivatives markets.

Why the Trades Are Under Scrutiny

The attention around these trades is intensified by the history of BitForex, the cryptocurrency exchange once associated with Jin.

• The platform collapsed in 2024 after roughly $57 million was withdrawn from its hot wallets, triggering investigations and leaving users unable to access funds for a period.
• Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission later issued a public warning indicating that BitForex was not licensed to operate as a virtual asset trading platform in the jurisdiction.

Because of that background, any large speculative activity attributed to a BitForex‑linked figure tends to attract extra scrutiny from traders, analysts, and regulators.

What Is Still Unclear

Despite the speculation surrounding these trades, several key points remain unresolved:

• Ownership of the wallets: The attribution to Garrett Jin is based on blockchain analysis and reported links, not publicly confirmed legal ownership records.
• Intent: A large short position alone does not prove market manipulation or insider activity.
• Coordination: There is no verified evidence that the various ZEC‑shorting whales are acting together.

What is clear is that on‑chain derivatives platforms like Hyperliquid make large trades unusually transparent. When a trader places tens or hundreds of millions of dollars in leveraged positions, the entire market can watch—often in real time.

That transparency is exactly why the latest Zcash trade has become a focal point for analysts tracking the movements of crypto’s largest and most controversial whales.