BitMEX, after almost a year of legal battles with the U.S. Commodity Future Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, has agreed to pay a settlement fee of US$100 million.
The authorities have accused the crypto exchange and derivatives trading company of violating specific anti-money laundering and Know Your Client (KYC) policies, which made its business procedures illegal.
In October 2020, the CFTC filed charges against several BitMEX executives, including its former chief executive officer and co-founder, Arthur Hayes.
The commission has accused BitMEX of operating an unregistered trading platform and not following the existing KYC and AML requirements. Its then CEO surrendered to the authorities in April this year.
The latest progress
“We’re glad to put these matters behind us and we’re not missing a beat in continuing the growth and transformation of our business with compliance,” BitMEX’s current Chief Executive Officer Alex Höptner said.
Höptner promised that the company will be more active in following all the necessary requirements regarding user verification and anti-money laundering policies.
Under the crosshairs
It is possible that BitMEX is already aware that it has been under the authorities’ investigation right before the charges were filed.
It can be remembered that back then, CFTC has released a statement saying that it was investigating a certain crypto exchange for possible misconduct. The commission chose not to name the company it was investigating at that time.
Also, back in 2019, Hayes, BitMEX’s former CEO defended the company’s decision to establish a headquarter in Seychelles. “[It] is a friendly environment for companies doing our type of business.” Hays said, adding that “they can actually move with the times, innovate financially and bring business to their economies.”
Image courtesy of Cointelegraph News/YouTube
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