Reportedly, a Bitkub co-founder sold Zcash too early and missed out on more than $110,000,000 in gains over four weeks.

PANews reported on September 25 that MLM monitoring identified a group of wallets suspected to be related to Sakolkorn Sakavee, co-founder of Bitkub, Thailand's largest cryptocurrency exchange. Over a recent period, the wallets unshielded 65,820 ZEC from privacy addresses, worth about $51.6 million.

Zcash is generally discussed as a privacy-oriented cryptocurrency because it can keep value in shielded addresses, where transaction visibility differs from transparent on-chain addresses. Unshielding means moving funds from privacy addresses into transparent addresses, allowing analytics tools to follow amounts and subsequent transfers. This can happen for trading or interaction needs, but large unshielding events may affect market narratives around privacy coins.

What Was Unshielded

The unshielded amount represented about 0.4% of ZEC's circulating supply and about 1.37% of ZEC currently held in privacy status. The report's headline framing describes the move as selling too early on ZEC, with more than $110 million in potential gains missed over four weeks.

The supply ratios help explain the attention: even if the total supply is large, privacy-held balances can be less visible and concentrated. “Privacy status” refers to shielded holdings rather than transparent public balances. When those balances become visible through unshielding, traders may reassess short-term supply pressure and sentiment.

Hyperliquid Trades and Bitcoin Switch

Of the unlocked ZEC, 53,900 ZEC were sold on Hyperliquid for about $42.3 million, and 536.7 BTC were bought with the proceeds. The wallets still held about 10,000 ZEC on Hyperliquid, with sell orders for about 8,370 ZEC worth about $6.6 million.

The report describes Hyperliquid as the venue for the sale and purchase. Moving from ZEC to BTC can be interpreted as a shift from a privacy asset toward a more mainstream crypto asset, though motives are not established. The remaining ZEC and pending sell orders suggest an ongoing trading process rather than a single isolated action.

Why the Trail Matters

MLM said the wallets continued to unshield ZEC and sell through Hyperliquid. For readers, the visible shift matters because unshielding turns private holdings into transparent, tradeable balances, making it easier to trace as it moves between ZEC and BTC.

Blockchain analytics becomes relevant once funds are in transparent addresses, where wallet clustering, venue activity, and exchange-related labels can be monitored. The suspected connection to an exchange-related background can amplify attention, because large visible flows often influence speculation about market impact. The key issue is visibility in open markets, not necessarily a privacy failure.

Key Takeaways

The reported facts center on a large ZEC unshielding, a sale on Hyperliquid, a BTC purchase, and remaining sell orders. The broader context is that privacy-coin holdings can become market-visible when moved to transparent venues. The “missed gains” framing is a timing-based narrative, not a guaranteed outcome.