BitMEX pays $100 million in settlement fees to end illegal transactions and anti-money laundering investigations
The well-known cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX was once the world’s largest cryptocurrency derivatives trading platform, and its registration place is located in Seychelles, an island country in the middle of the Indian Ocean.
The so-called cryptocurrency derivatives mainly refer to futures, contracts, and leveraged token trading. This exchange has attracted a large number of contract traders to trade.
However, in recent years, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the U.S. Financial Crime Enforcement Network have also announced an investigation into the exchange to clarify various violations.
The most important of these is that BitMEX provides derivatives transactions for American citizens without the approval of U.S. regulatory agencies and fails to comply with anti-money laundering regulations.
The crackdown by the regulators has left the exchange’s prospects gloomy. Many contract traders have fled the platform. The good news is that the regulatory investigation is now over.
The reason why this exchange was investigated by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission was to provide U.S. citizens with cryptocurrency derivatives transactions without the approval of the agency.
The provided derivatives transactions include cryptocurrency futures and contract transactions. Institutions that provide such transactions as required must apply for a license from the U.S. regulatory agency.
The reason for being investigated by the US Financial Crime Law Enforcement Network is that BitMEX did not comply with bank secrecy laws, etc., and did not report any suspicious transactions to the agency.
According to regulations, such exchanges must report suspicious transactions in a timely manner so that regulators can track them, especially to combat criminal activities that use cryptocurrency for money laundering.
A few days ago, BitMEX announced that it has reached a settlement with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the US Financial Crime Enforcement Network and paid a settlement fee of $100 million.
After the settlement is reached, the above-mentioned regulatory agencies will no longer investigate BitMEX on related issues and withdraw related civil lawsuits. Of course, the settlement will also have additional regulatory conditions.
The most important one is that the exchange is not allowed to provide derivatives transactions for American citizens. For now, cryptocurrency derivatives are not recognized by regulatory agencies.
This is also the reason why the cryptocurrency exchange Binance was investigated in the United States. Later, Binance established the United States Binance to provide basic cryptocurrency trading to U.S. citizens.
As for the various derivatives such as futures and contract transactions provided by the currency security global version, they are not open to US citizens unless the exchange obtains a US regulatory license someday.
Now BitMEX has banned U.S. citizens from registering and even U.S. users cannot access the exchange. Of course, this will also help the future compliance process.
Via: theverge
