Suspected Hyperliquid Whale Refutes Claims of Insider Trading Involving Trump

Garrett Jin, the former CEO of the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange BitForex, has refuted several allegations made against him by a pseudonymous online investigator regarding market shorting.

In a post on X on Monday, Jin stated he had “no ties to the Trump family,” denying insider trading accusations after crypto researcher Eye asserted he managed a wallet address utilized by a whale to short Bitcoin (BTC).

This wallet facilitated a short position less than an hour before US President Donald Trump announced a “100% tariff on China” on Friday, likely causing a significant drop in the price of the cryptocurrency.

On Saturday, Eye indicated on X that Jin was a Hyperliquid whale who controlled over 100,000 BTC. Jin responded by claiming the wallet belonged to a client and criticized former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao for sharing “personal and private information” by retweeting Eye’s post to his vast follower base.

Regardless of any ties to Jin, the wallet address was reportedly used to open a $735 million short on BTC. The price of Bitcoin briefly dipped to around $102,000 on Friday following the tariff announcement, although the president later remarked in a social media post on Sunday, “don’t worry about China,” softening some of his comments.

Related: Bitcoin plummets to $102K on Binance as Trump announces 100% tariffs on China

Despite the alleged connections between Jin and the notorious Bitcoin wallet, some online investigators are skeptical of Eye’s assertions. ZachXBT mentioned on Saturday that it was more probable “a friend of Jin” was behind the trades, while crypto analyst Quinten Francois noted that the evidence connecting the former CEO to the wallet seemed overly convenient.

Insider trading allegations are common in crypto

Numerous individuals in the crypto exchange arena have previously faced accusations of possessing inside information regarding project launches due to suspiciously timed trades.