Bitaigen Research 
From an industry perspective we have mapped Jane Street’s end‑to‑end involvement in the blockchain space and uncovered the possible logic behind the abnormal Bitcoin market movements that followed its lawsuit over the Terra case. By deeply analysing its positions, liquidity role and the lawsuit details, readers can gauge the potential impact on price dynamics – a piece worth a careful read.
Jane Street’s comprehensive footprint in the crypto sector
As a globally leading quantitative trading firm, Jane Street maintains a broad footprint across the blockchain ecosystem, spanning lower‑layer infrastructure, decentralized finance (DeFi) and Bitcoin mining, among other areas. Public disclosures show that its investment portfolio includes projects such as ZetaChain, Arbitrum, 1inch and Euler Finance.
Regarding mining equity, Jane Street holds roughly 5 % of the shares in mining companies like Bitfarms, Cipher Mining and Hut 8, while also providing critical liquidity support to Coinbase and several Bitcoin ETFs.
Terraform Labs bankruptcy trustee’s lawsuit against Jane Street
On 24 February 2022, the bankruptcy trustee appointed by Terraform Labs filed a suit against Jane Street in the U.S. District Court in New York, accusing the firm of front‑running trades and profiting from non‑public information during the Terra collapse.
The complaint reveals that Jane Street, through former intern Bryce Pratt, established a covert communication channel with Terraform Labs insiders. On 7 May 2022, Terraform withdrew a single tranche of 150 million UST from a Curve liquidity pool without prior announcement; within a ten‑minute window, wallets linked to Jane Street subsequently withdrew about 85 million UST. The plaintiffs argue that this action accelerated the decoupling of UST from the U.S. dollar (USD — U.S. users should use Binance.US for fiat transactions via SEPA/SWIFT) and further triggered a market crash.
In response, a Jane Street spokesperson called the lawsuit “baseless and purely speculative,” emphasizing that the firm will vigorously defend itself. At the same time, all of the firm’s posts on the social platform X were removed, prompting the community to question its conduct further.
The “10 a.m. sell‑off” claim and the shift in Bitcoin’s price action
A narrative circulating on social media suggests that an algorithm operated by Jane Street executes a concentrated Bitcoin sell‑off every day at 10 a.m. Eastern Time, depressing the price before buying back at lower levels.
Since the lawsuit became public, this alleged “10 a.m. dump” appears to have vanished. Bitcoin transitioned from five consecutive red candles to a green candle, with the weekly price climbing and market capitalization rising by roughly $120 billion USD. During the same period, the total crypto market cap also expanded by about $200 billion USD.
Tight liquidity amplifying price volatility
Some analysts caution that attributing price swings solely to a single institution may be an oversimplification. Data from Material Indicators show that order books on exchanges have become “extremely thin” recently; once sell‑side liquidity is stripped, prices can rebound sharply. In the past 24 hours, crypto market liquidations totaled approximately $333 million USD, of which short positions accounted for $213 million USD, providing a modest support to the rally as shorts were covered.
Correction (26 Feb 15:40): After The Block reporter Danny Kunwoong Park examined the Wayback Machine, it was found that the @JaneStreetGroup X account has had no tweets since May 2023, not that posts were recently deleted.
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⚠️ Risk Disclaimer: Crypto prices are highly volatile. This is not investment advice.
