Crypto analyst Specter Analyst published an investigation claiming that investment firm BTX Capital and its founder, Vanessa Cao, orchestrated the manipulation of the POPCAT token price on the Hyperliquid platform. According to the report, the firm used large amounts of capital to move the market and profit by hedging positions on centralized exchanges.
Sequence Of Events
The incident took place on November 12, when an attacker placed a POPCAT buy order worth around $25 M, creating the illusion of strong demand near the $0.21 level. Hyperliquid’s on-chain data confirmed the massive buy wall, executed through 26 wallets. Moments later, the order was canceled, triggering a wave of liquidations.
The attacker lost all their collateral but caused $4.9 M in losses to HLP liquidity providers. The analyst suggested the loss was acceptable because the attacker held a much larger short position on a CEX.
The investigation traced the funds behind the attack to a wallet previously tied to manipulation of the TST token. Analysts followed a chain of transactions leading back to a public wallet linked to BTX Capital founder Vanessa Cao.
Through several intermediary accounts, the funds were deposited in significant amounts to centralized exchanges OKX and Bybit. The flow of funds was also tied to assets originating from a BTX Capital wallet, including 50 M in AKI tokens and a smaller amount of POL on Polygon.
BTX Capital Founder’s Response
Vanessa Cao responded to the allegations, writing:
“Thank you for your analysis. Unfortunately, with my trading skills, I am not yet able to implement such a trading strategy. Furthermore, the wallet you listed does not belong to me. Those who know me know that I do not engage in on-chain hedging transactions.”
The analyst behind the report stood by his findings, claiming the wallet in question did belong to Cao. He shared screenshots showing it had been registered in the ENS system as vanessacao.eth in 2021 and later renamed.
Founded in 2019, BTX Capital presents itself as a firm focused on generating alpha through liquid token strategies. The analyst alleged that manipulation is its true “strategy,” suggesting the firm may also be behind irregular activity in ZEREBRO, JELLYJELLY, HIFI, and possibly ZEC tokens.
“You must be thinking we are all fools,” he wrote.
The accusations have sparked broad discussion in the crypto community, with many calling for more transparency in DeFi and a deeper investigation into the claims.
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