A single entity’s on-chain trail reveals the brutal cost of leverage in DeFi
TREE NEWS reports: A whale entity tied to Garrett Jin has drawn intense on-chain scrutiny after a cascade of losses that now total more than $300 million. The latest chapter: 35,000 ETH (roughly $87.5 million) withdrawn from Binance was sold at an average price of $2,500 and used to top up margin on a losing Zcash (ZEC) short position, pushing that short’s liquidation price from $2,631 up to $4,738.
The Origin Story: 2018 Bitcoin Accumulation
The entity’s entire capital base traces back to a single bet. Between May and June 2018, it accumulated 100,784 BTC at an average price of roughly $7,242. Every subsequent move — across centralized exchanges, perpetual futures venues, and DeFi pools — has been funded by selling that Bitcoin.
The Fatal Rotation: BTC to ETH
Starting in August 2025, the entity began rotating out of Bitcoin and into Ethereum, selling 89,000 BTC at an average of about $114,000 while buying 900,000 ETH at an average cost above $3,500. Those coins were steadily transferred into Binance through the first half of 2026 — a massive, concentrated directional bet on ETH outperforming BTC.
Three Disasters in Sequence
- February 2026 — Hyperliquid blowup: ETH crashed from $3,000 to $1,800. A $670 million long position (213,000 ETH opened at $3,150) was liquidated, wiping out roughly $230 million in margin.
- March 2026 — Slippage disaster: A single swap of 50.43 million aEthUSDT into aEthAAVE hit thin liquidity and returned only 327.2 AAVE (about $36,500), vaporizing roughly $50.39 million and handing the difference to MEV bots.
- July 2026 onward — ZEC short: Persistent shorting of Zcash on Hyperliquid has produced an unrealized loss of about $34 million.
Separately, Trend Research, the fund associated with Yilihua, was forced to stop out a 651,500 ETH long (approximately $2.07 billion at an average of $3,180), losing $734 million. On-chain analysts note repeated large transfers between that address and the entity in question.
What This Means for the Market
Three lessons stand out. First, position sizing at this scale turns ordinary volatility into existential risk — a 40% ETH drawdown erased hundreds of millions. Second, DeFi execution risk is real: a single illiquid swap cost more than most funds manage in total. Third, the blurred line between “whale wallets” and professional funds means losses can transmit across entities through shared counterparties and capital.
The Road Ahead
With the ZEC short now liquidatable near $4,738 and ETH exposure largely monetized, the entity’s remaining firepower is unclear. Traders will watch whether further BTC or ETH sales are needed to defend positions — and whether the pattern of high-conviction, high-leverage rotation continues. For the broader market, this is a reminder that on-chain transparency cuts both ways: it exposes risk before it becomes systemic, but it also lets rivals front-run a whale in distress.
