BitMEX’s Top Executives Charged and Removed from Management Roles

100x Group​, the holding group for BitMEX's parent company HDR Global Trading Limited announced this Thursday the step-down of Arthur Hayes as CEO, Samuel Reed as CTO, and Ben Delo as an executive of BitMEX. They are all on charges of operating an unregistered cryptocurrency derivatives trading platform in the United States and AML violations.

Besides the three co-founders, the first employee of the P2P crypto-products trading platform Greg Dwyer has also been found involved in the case. He will take a leave of absence from his role as Head of Business Development.   

Because of these charges, over 32,200 Bitcoins were withdrawn from BitMEX in a short hour. The crypto derivatives exchange is facing huge losses.

To maintain business continuity, 100x Group also announced the appointment of its COO Vivien Khoo as Interim CEO and the new responsibilities of its Commercial Director Ben Radclyffe to handle client relationship and oversee financial products. Vivien Khoo left Goldman Sachs for 100x Group in March 2019, while Ben Radclyffe joined the company only in March 2020. 

"These changes to our executive leadership mean we can focus on our core business of offering superior trading opportunities for all our clients through the BitMEX platform, whilst maintaining the highest standards of corporate governance. We have an exceptional senior leadership team who are well-placed to continue the growth and development of the 100x Group, including completion of the BitMEX User Verification Programme," the firm's Chairman David Wong said.