Despite the legal battle that the company co-founders and the US authorities, BitMEX 100X still appointed a new CEO to replace Arthur Hayes. The charges against the company co-founders were placed in October, and its former CEO, Hayes, was also included.
As of Dec 1, the company announced that it is taking on board Alexander Hoptner, the ex-CEO of the German stock exchange Borse Stuttgart GmbH. He will officially start his duties in January 2021. In addition to being the CEO, Hoptner will also be part of the company’s board of directors and will be accountable to the group’s chairman David Wong.
Hoptner expressed his delight in joining the group to create a cryptocurrency technology ecosystem that will impact lives. He aims to develop an innovative trading environment that is liquid and fair to all kinds of investors.
The new CEO will take over from the group’s current interim CEO, Vivien Khoo, who acted as an emergency replacement for Hayes from October 8th.
The company’s founders got into a legal suit with the United States Department of Justice and Commodity Futures Trading Commission on October 1st with charges of money laundering and giving illegal derivatives products to the American market. The victims were Arthur Hayes, Ben Delo, Gregory Dwyer, and Samuel Reed. That made them drop their positions as of October 8.
Samuel Reed was released a week later after redeeming himself with a $5 million bond. None of the rest has received apprehension from the US government. Likely, Hayes will just remain in Hong Kong.
Apart from the new appointments, there is definitely much more aftermath that has been experienced and is expected. As for the company, there is up to $440 million that was looted though it is rumored to be an inside job. That has definitely affected the profitability and performance of the company. The DeFi, in general, is affected as an industry. BitMEX’s experience shows that registration does not make one safe from US law enforcement. It is also impossible to avoid the US markets; companies will have to be innovative on how to go about it. Many DeFi companies will use BitMEX as an example in planning their future dealings. Trading of derivatives will also be affected.
As much as the US is a key market of DeFi, the national security law is unlikely to change.
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