The crypto derivatives exchange BitMEX has been fined an additional $100 million by US authorities to settle a long-running legal battle related to allegations that the platform violated the Bank Secrecy Act.
The US authorities believe that the $110 million fine that BitMEX agreed to pay in 2024 is not enough for the extent of the platform's violations, as during the period from 2015 to 2020, the platform is said to have profited up to $1.3 billion from illegal business activities.
Previously, in July 2024, BitMEX agreed to plead guilty to violating the US Bank Secrecy Act by failing to establish, maintain, and enforce an anti-money laundering program during the period from 2015 to 2020.
In addition to not implementing a KYC mechanism, the platform also allowed US citizens to register accounts and trade on the platform, with the proportion of Americans at one point reaching 11.5% of total BitMEX users. The BitMEX management team also refused to register their activities with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as required by law, and even lied to banks to gain access to financial services.
BitMEX's lawyers tried to reduce the sentence, arguing that the many years of legal battles had significantly impacted the platform's operations, but ultimately failed.
Senior executives of BitMEX, including founder and former CEO Arthur Hayes, were prosecuted and fined by the CFTC and the US Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) in 2021, along with home confinement, for the platform's violations. BitMEX also had to pay a $100 million fine to the US Treasury Department at that time.
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