BitMEX announces leadership changes after U.S. government charges, Arthur Hayes no longer CEO

Quick Take

  • Crypto derivatives exchange BitMEX has today announced leadership changes, a week after the U.S. government charged its founders.
  • All the four named defendants, including CEO Arthur Hayes, have stepped back from executive management responsibilities.
  • Vivien Khoo, chief operating officer of 100x Group, has become interim CEO.

Crypto derivatives exchange BitMEX has today announced leadership changes, a week after the U.S. government charged its four founders and executives.

Arthur Hayes, one of the defendants in the case, is no longer BitMEX CEO, from immediate effect. Similarly, another named and arrested defendant, Samuel Reed is no longer the exchange’s CTO.

The third defendant in the case, founder Ben Delo, will not hold executive positions in the 100x Group, the parent company of BitMEX. Additionally, Greg Dwyer will take a leave of absence from his role as head of business development.

In the meanwhile, Vivien Khoo, chief operating officer of 100x Group, has become interim CEO. Ben Radclyffe, in his role as commercial director, will have additional responsibility for client relationship handling and oversight of financial products.

"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," said David Wong, chairman of 100x Group.

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"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. It is business as usual for us and we thank all clients for their continued support," Wong added.

BitMEX was hit with two lawsuits on October 1, by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). The CFTC accused the derivative exchange and its operators of running an unregistered trading platform and violating anti-money laundering and know-your-customer regulations. The DOJ filed a criminal indictment against Hayes, Delo, Reed, and Dwyer for allegedly violating the Bank Secrecy Act.

HDR Global Trading, the parent company of BitMEX and one of the defendants named in the CFTC lawsuit, vowed to fight the charges at the time.

As a result of the lawsuits, BitMEX has witnessed massive withdrawals in recent days. More than 40,000 bitcoin, currently worth about $422 million, has been withdrawn from BitMEX, according to various data trackers.


© 2023 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

About Author

Yogita Khatri is a senior reporter at The Block, covering all things crypto. As one of the earliest team members, Yogita has played a pivotal role in breaking numerous stories, exclusives and scoops. With nearly 3,000 articles under her belt, Yogita holds the records as The Block's most-published and most-read author of all time. Prior to joining The Block, Yogita worked at crypto publication CoinDesk and The Economic Times, where she wrote on personal finance. To contact her, email: [email protected]. For her latest work, follow her on X @Yogita_Khatri5.