Former BitMEX CEO surrenders to US authorities in Hawaii

Arthur Hayes, founder and former CEO of BitMEX, finally surrendered to the US authorities in Hawaii. At this point Hayes will face allegations that the cryptocurrency exchange and its executives have violated the Bank Secrecy Act, according to a report released by Bloomberg.

What happened

Hayes has lived in Singapore since January 2020 and was flown to Hawaii to appear before a Honolulu judge. He attended a complaint hearing before the federal judge and was subsequently released with the obligation to pay a $ 10 million fine as a refund for previous negotiations the former BitMAX had with the US government. The former CEO will be tried in New York along with co-owner Benjamin Delo and former CTO Samuel Reed.

As previously reported on these same pages, the lawsuit against Hayes and his colleagues began last October when the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed a lawsuit against them for operating an unregulated exchange. The FBI simultaneously accused the trio of failing to implement anti-money laundering regulations.

Following these criminal and civil charges, executives resigned from their roles within the exchange. Although Hayes no longer works at BitMEX, he has continued contributing to the exchange's official blog over the past few weeks.

The other defendant called into question, Gray Dwyer, is said to be still in Bermuda and has refused to negotiate with the authorities. In doing so, he would have forced the United States to seek his extradition from the Caribbean nation.

Surely the exchange has lived through better times

In light of the lawsuit against BitMEX, customers made withdrawals from the exchange in the amount of 40.000 BTC. Additionally, BitMEX's open interest and trading volume have dropped significantly in recent months. At the time of publication, BitMEX is the eighth largest derivatives trading platform with a trading volume of $ 4,2 billion over a 24-hour period.

Earlier this year, BitMEX announced that it has successfully completed its “User Verification Program,” which means it now has fully verified customers. The announcement read in part:

"We are pleased to confirm that our user verification program has been successfully implemented, making BitMEX one of the largest crypto derivatives exchanges in the world with a fully verified active user base."

While we have yet to understand how this legal battle between BitMEX, its co-founders and US authorities will unfold, it appears the exchange has moved on.

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