BitMEX Pleads Guilty to Bank Secrecy Act Violation

BitMEX has pleaded guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) by previously failing to implement adequate know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) programs.

What’s the scoop?

• Executive Charges: The plea follows similar charges against BitMEX co-founders Arthur Hayes, Samuel Reed, and Benjamin Delo, and the first employee, Gregory Dwyer — all of whom had previously pleaded guilty.
• Pending Sentencing: BitMEX has yet to face any sentencings related to these charges, with the case being overseen by U.S. District Judge John G. Koeltl of the Southern District of New York.

Bankless Take:

BitMEX’s guilty plea continues the trend of the DOJ cracking down on companies who previously played fast and loose with KYC or initially had no requirements around it. Earlier this year, the agency charged Kucoin, a previously non-KYC exchange, for violating anti-money laundering rules, even after they had reinstituted KYC in 2023. BitMEX was charged for their lack of KYC between 2015 and 2020, which shows that, especially with the continued charges and settlements of other projects like Terra, U.S. agencies will continue to work their way through offenses of the past, slowly but surely.

Update 7/13: A previous version of this post detailed that BitMEX had also pleaded guilty for making false statements to an international bank. These allegations were not part of the guilty plea. We regret the error.