Hyperliquid News Today: CZ Disputes Hyperliquid Ties Amid DEX's Binance-Defying Rise

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) has denied any current financial ties to Hyperliquid, a fast-growing decentralized exchange (DEX) that has emerged as a formidable challenger to centralized crypto platforms. In a recent X post, CZ confirmed that Hyperliquid's founder, Jeff Yan, had participated in Binance Labs' 2018 incubation program through a now-defunct project called Deaux. However, he emphasized that YZiLabs (Binance Labs at the time) made no investment in Hyperliquid and "did not recoup any of its investment." CZ added that the project failed and that he had limited interaction with Yan during the incubation period.

Hyperliquid, which operates on a custom-built layer-1 blockchain, has surged in prominence, processing $319 billion in trading volume in July 2025 alone. The platform's hybrid architecture-combining on-chain order books with a high-speed HotStuff-based consensus mechanism-enables sub-second trade execution, rivaling centralized exchanges. With a core team of just 11 members and no venture capital backing, Hyperliquid has captured 70% of the decentralized perpetuals market, according to DeFiLlama and Token Terminal data.

The exchange's rise has been accelerated by cross-chain features supporting assets like Bitcoin and a native token, HYPE, which hit an all-time high of $59.29 in September. Analysts note that decentralized perpetual exchanges (perp DEXs) now account for 13.6% of Binance's derivatives volume, up from 8% at the start of 2025.

The crypto market faced a historic crash in late October 2025 after U.S. President Donald Trump announced 100% tariffs on Chinese imports. The move triggered a $19 billion liquidation event, with Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana plummeting by 10–20% in days. CoinGlass data showed $18.28 billion in leveraged positions wiped out, marking the largest single-day liquidation in crypto history.

The sell-off intensified fears of a trade war between the U.S. and China, which had already imposed export controls on rare-earth minerals. By Friday, October 10, Bitcoin had dropped to $103,000 from a recent peak of $126,200, while Ethereum fell 14% to $3,742.88. Analysts attributed the panic to overleveraged positions and algorithmic trading feedback loops, though some speculated that a whale had profited from pre-announcement shorting.

Amid the volatility, on-chain investigators identified a Hyperliquid whale controlling over 100,000 BTC-valued at $11 billion-as Garrett Jin, former CEO of collapsed exchange BitForex. Researcher EyeOnChain traced Jin's Ethereum Name Service (ENS) addresses, including "ereignis.eth" and "garrettjin.eth," to wallets linked to a $735 million Bitcoin short executed just before Trump's tariff announcement.

BitForex, which operated from 2017 to 2020, was accused of falsifying trading volumes and lost $57 million in hot wallets before shutting down in 2024. Jin has since founded ventures like XHash, a staking platform, though he denied ownership of the Hyperliquid funds, claiming they belong to clients. Binance's CZ shared the investigation but questioned its validity, urging further cross-checks.

Skepticism persists, with some analysts arguing that the evidence-such as direct ENS links to Jin's verified X account-appears "too simple to be true".

[1] Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) has addressed growing speculation that Binance may have ties to the fast-growing decentralized exchange Hyperliquid, confirming that while the platform's founder was once part of a Binance Labs incubation program, there are no current investment links between the two. (https://finance.yahoo.com/news/binance-backing-hyperliquid-cz-breaks-152647902.html)

[2] Binance's CZ Responds to Hyperliquid Rumors in New ... - Coinpedia (https://coinpedia.org/news/binances-cz-responds-to-hyperliquid-rumors-in-new-gossip-tweet-community-reacts/)

[4] CZ Addresses Hyperliquid Rumors in New Tweet; Community ... (https://franetic.com/cz-addresses-hyperliquid-rumors-in-new-tweet-community-reacts/)

[5] Crypto market hit by biggest liquidation in history: ... (https://www.financialexpress.com/market/crypto-market-hit-by-biggest-liquidation-in-history-19b-wiped-out-after-trumps-china-tariffs-see-the-worst-hits-4007476/)

[6] Did Trump's Tariff Trigger A Crypto Purge Or Just A ... (https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2025/10/11/did-trumps-tariff-trigger-a-crypto-purge-or-just-a-panic/)

[7] Trump's new 100% tariffs on China triggered a $19 billion crypto ... (https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/11/business/trump-tariffs-crypto-selloff)

[10] Hyperliquid Whale Linked to Ex-BitForex CEO Garrett Jin: Researcher (https://bitnewsbot.com/hyperliquid-whale-linked-to-ex-bitforex-ceo/)

[11] 100,000 BTC Hyperliquid Whale Allegedly Linked to Former ... (https://finance.yahoo.com/news/100-000-btc-hyperliquid-whale-083447858.html)

[12] Blockchain Sleuth Links Garrett Jin to Hyperliquid Trader (https://www.bitdegree.org/crypto/news/blockchain-sleuth-links-garrett-jin-to-100000-btc-hyperliquid-trader)