Market Crash Raises Questions About Binance Vulnerabilities
Friday night’s sharp decline in cryptocurrency prices initially appeared to be a reaction to US President Donald Trump’s announcement of steep tariffs on China. But looking closer at the data reveals something more complex happening beneath the surface. Trading pairs on Binance showed unusually deep price declines compared to other exchanges, which is technically quite difficult to achieve normally.
According to community research that’s been circulating, someone may have exploited vulnerabilities in the BNSOL/WBETH price oracle system. The attacker apparently used overleveraged positions in the USDe stablecoin while simultaneously opening a large short position on the Hyperliquid exchange. This coordinated approach suggests something more deliberate than typical market movements.
Binance Founder Responds Cautiously
Changpeng Zhao, the founder of Binance, commented on the situation with measured words. “I’m not sure about its validity. I hope someone can verify it,” he shared. His response reflects the uncertainty surrounding these claims while acknowledging they deserve proper investigation.
When you examine the trading patterns across different platforms, the discrepancies become more apparent. The price differences between Binance and other major exchanges weren’t just minor variations—they were significant enough to raise eyebrows among experienced traders. These kinds of anomalies don’t typically happen by accident in well-functioning markets.
The Mysterious Figure Behind the Movement
Research circulating within crypto communities points to an entity known as the Hyperliquid/Hyperunit whale. This individual or group reportedly holds over 100,000 BTC and recently executed a massive $4.23 billion swap from Bitcoin to Ethereum. The same address is also believed to have opened a $735 million Bitcoin short position around the same time.
On-chain investigators traced the activity to the Ethereum address ereignis.eth, which used garrettjin.eth as an alias. This connection led researchers to focus on Garrett Jin, whose background in the crypto space adds another layer to the story.
Connections to Past Exchange Operations
Garrett Jin’s history includes founding Da Yo Trading in 2012 and serving as Director of Operations at Huobi until 2015. More notably, he was CEO of BitForex exchange between 2017 and 2020. BitForex faced accusations of volume manipulation and suffered a $57 million hack in 2024 before becoming inaccessible to users.
The Bitcoin addresses linked to this whale activity show connections to funds withdrawn from HTX, OKX, ViaBTC, Bixin, and Binance exchanges 7-8 years ago. This pattern reinforces suspicions that funds associated with BitForex and Huobi might be involved in recent market movements.
Jin is also reportedly the founder of XHash, an institutional staking platform that some analysts suggest could potentially legitimize funds from questionable sources. Though these allegations remain unconfirmed, the timing and coordination of the sell-off—beginning just before Trump’s statement—suggests this might have been more than ordinary market reaction.
The situation highlights how complex cryptocurrency markets can be, where technical vulnerabilities, large positions, and coordinated actions can create significant market impacts. While we don’t have definitive answers yet, the patterns observed warrant closer examination by the broader crypto community and exchange operators.
