Bitcoin Tumbles $400 As CFTC Charges BitMEX Owners with Illegally Operating a Crypto Exchange
- Bitcoin’s price was advancing relatively well over the last couple of days but now things took a turn for the worst.
- The cryptocurrency went on to lose more than $400 of its value, at the time of this writing, in less than an hour. It was trading at almost $10,900 before plunging down to where it currently rests at around $10,480.
- This happened almost immediately after news broke out that the US Commodity and Futures Trading Commission has charged the owners of BitMEX – one of the world’s largest Bitcoin derivatives exchanges, with illegally operating a cryptocurrency derivatives trading platform and anti-money laundering violations.
- According to the official release dated October 1st, 2020, the CFTC “is charging five entities and three individuals that own and operate the BitMEX trading platform.” These include the company owners, namely, Arthur Hayes, Ben Delo, and Samuel Reed, who “operate BitMEX’s platform through a maze of corporate entities.”
- Speaking on the matter was the chairman of the Commission, Heath P. Tarbert, who said that as the CFTC “has made clear, registration requirements are a cornerstone of the regulatory framework that protects Americans and U.S. financial markets.
- The US Attorney for the District of New York indicted Reed, Delo, and Hayes, alongside Gregory Dwyer, on federal charges of violating the Bank Secrecy Act, as well as conspiracy to violate the Bank Secrecy Act.
- In addition, it’s also worth noting that data from Coinmetrics shows that there’s around $2 billion worth of BTC currently sitting in BitMEX. The cryptocurrency community wonders if there’s more pain to come, depending on how the CFTC case pans out.
In addition, the $400 million insurance fund’s security has also been called into question as reports have it that the CTO(read: Samuel Reed) of the company has been arrested.
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