Crypto Exchange BitMEX Hit With $100 Million Fine for US Money-Laundering Violations

BitMEX was hit with a $100 million fine Wednesday by Manhattan federal judge Judge John G. Koeltl—the latest verdict against the cryptocurrency exchange in the years-long saga over money-laundering violations in the United States.

The exchange’s attorneys had argued that an earlier $110 million fine and previous guilty pleas were sufficient punishment for the violations that took place between 2015 and 2020, but Koeltl disagreed. Law360 first reported the news.

Founders Arthur Hayes and Benjamin Delo previously pled guilty in 2022 to similar charges, with each agreeing to a $10 million criminal fine. In a statement Wednesday, BitMEX pushed said the verdict represented a smaller penalty than previously sought by the U.S. government, but that it disagreed that a fine was necessary.

“This process has run on for years, during which the DOJ first asked for over $200 million of new money to settle a plea deal—once we refused this ridiculous offer, they then sought a penalty of approximately $420 million in the sentencing proceedings,” the statement said.

It added that the exchange had “implemented significant improvements, including a best-in-class user verification program and comprehensive KYC and AML systems.” before the first charges were filed back in 2020.

The CFTC first filed money-laundering and other civil charges against BitMEX for illegally operating in the U.S.

At the same time, the U.S. Attorney for the District of New York also filed criminal actions against the exchange’s owners—Arthur Hayes, Ben Delo, and Samuel Reed—for allegedly conspiring to violate the Bank Secrecy Act.

The feds at the time alleged that the exchange had failed to correctly verify the identities of those trading on its platform, taking in millions of dollars from customers in the U.S.

In 2021, BitMEX paid $100 million in civil penalties after the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, alleged that the exchange’s senior leadership “altered U.S. customer information to hide the customer’s true location.”

Edited by Andrew Hayward

Editor’s note: This story was updated after publication with additional details.