{"id":47498,"date":"2021-08-11T10:20:06","date_gmt":"2021-08-11T07:20:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/?p=47498"},"modified":"2025-09-01T21:42:05","modified_gmt":"2025-09-01T18:42:05","slug":"bitmex-to-pay-100m-to-settle-us-regulators-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/bitmex-to-pay-100m-to-settle-us-regulators-claims\/","title":{"rendered":"BitMEX to pay $100m to settle US regulators\u2019 claims"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The BitMEX cryptocurrency derivatives exchange has settled a civil dispute with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). The company agreed to pay a $100 million fine.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Our CEO <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AlexHoeptner?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@AlexHoeptner<\/a> writes on the resolution of our case with the CFTC and FinCEN, and what\u2019s next for BitMEX: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/tus51OD7Mm\">https:\/\/t.co\/tus51OD7Mm<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/bP93DfzT9T\">pic.twitter.com\/bP93DfzT9T<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 BitMEX (@BitMEX) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BitMEX\/status\/1425159156223389701?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 10, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>According to FinCEN, BitMEX did not implement or maintain anti-money laundering and customer-verification programs for more than six years.<\/p>\n<p>According to the regulator, the exchange conducted transactions totalling not less than $209 million with known darknet markets and unregistered money services providing mixing services. BitMEX also conducted transactions involving high-risk jurisdictions and alleged fraudulent schemes. In at least 588 cases the exchange failed to file suspicious activity reports (SARs).<\/p>\n<p>FinCEN found that BitMEX\u2019s representations that it did not have US-based customers did not reflect reality. In addition, in some cases the exchange\u2019s management falsified information about such users to conceal their actual location.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to paying the penalties, BitMEX agreed to hire an independent consultant to conduct a retrospective analysis of its transaction data. As part of this, it will be determined whether the exchange should file additional Suspicious Activity Reports (SAR) for this activity.<\/p>\n<p>BitMEX will also undergo two independent reviews to confirm the existence of appropriate policies, procedures and controls ensuring that the exchange does not operate in the United States.<\/p>\n<p>From the penalty imposed by the regulator, the company must immediately pay $80 million. The remaining $20 million is suspended pending the successful completion of the SAR analysis and checks.<\/p>\n<p>In October 2020, the CFTC <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/cftc-sues-bitmex-and-its-founders\">filed a lawsuit<\/a> against BitMEX and its founders. The Commission accused them of operating an unregistered trading platform and violating CFTC rules on KYC\/AML procedures.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, the Department of Justice charged BitMEX co-founders Arthur Hayes, Ben Delo and Samuel Reed, as well as the exchange\u2019s head of business development Greg Dwyer, with violations of the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act.<\/p>\n<p>Reed was arrested in the United States and <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/bitmex-cto-samuel-reed-released-on-5-million-bond\">was released on bail<\/a> of $5 million. <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/court-frees-bitmex-co-founder-on-20-million-bond\">bail of $20 million<\/a> was posted in March 2021. Hayes surrendered to U.S. authorities in April; his bail amount <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/former-bitmex-chief-surrenders-to-u-s-authorities-released-on-10-million-bond\">was $10 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The criminal charges against them remain in force, and a New York court has scheduled a preliminary hearing for 28 March 2022.<\/p>\n<p>Follow ForkLog on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/forklog\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Facebook<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The BitMEX cryptocurrency derivatives exchange settled a civil dispute with the U.S. CFTC and FinCEN and agreed to pay a $100 million fine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47499,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"select":"1","news_style_id":"1","cryptorium_level":"","_short_excerpt_text":"","creation_source":"","_metatest_mainpost_news_update":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[788,879,269,1304,26],"class_list":["post-47498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-bitmex","tag-cftc","tag-fincen","tag-fines","tag-usa"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"views":"21","promo_type":"1","layout_type":"1","short_excerpt":"","is_update":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47498"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47500,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47498\/revisions\/47500"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}