Fact-check findings

The reviewer could not reconcile the claim with the evidence it cited. This is a lead, not a ruling that the claim is false.

1. #12[disputed][awaiting moderator]in section: Penalty summary

   “On March 28, 2025, President Donald Trump issued full pardons to Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo, Samuel Reed, and Gregory Dwyer, expunging their criminal convictions for Bank Secrecy Act violations.”

   reviewerOn March 28, 2025, President Trump issued full pardons to Hayes, Delo, Reed, and Dwyer, and simultaneously pardoned the corporate entity HDR Global Trading Limited, a rare instance of a presidential pardon issued to a corporation.The page's cited secondary sources (CNBC, Bloomberg) are dated March 28 because that is when the pardons became public knowledge, but the primary DOJ pardon warrant itself is dated March 27, 2025. The same erroneous date also appears in the timeline entry for this event.
   Proposed correction (not yet applied)

   On March 27, 2025, President Donald Trump issued full pardons to Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo, Samuel Reed, and Gregory Dwyer, expunging their criminal convictions for Bank Secrecy Act violations.
   citedwww.cnbc.com/2025/03/28/trump-pardon-bit…-laundering.htmlwww.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-03-…-and-samuel-reed
2. #13[disputed][awaiting moderator]in the timeline

   “2025-03-28”

   reviewerPresident Trump issues full pardons ... on March 28, 2025 (timeline date).Same date defect as the corresponding section-content finding; the timeline field should be corrected to 2025-03-27 to match the primary DOJ document.
   Proposed correction (not yet applied)

   2025-03-27
   citedwww.cnbc.com/2025/03/28/trump-pardon-bit…-laundering.html
3. #14[disputed][awaiting moderator]in section: Penalty summary

   “The pardons were issued more than two years after the founders completed or were serving their respective terms of probation.”

   reviewerThe pardons were issued more than two years after the founders completed or were serving their respective terms of probation.Arithmetic using the page's own dates shows the pardons came less than two years (in Delo's case, only about three months) after each defendant completed probation, the opposite of what is stated.
   Proposed correction (not yet applied)

   The pardons were issued less than two years after the founders completed or were serving their respective terms of probation.
   citedwww.cnbc.com/2025/03/28/trump-pardon-bit…-laundering.html
4. #15[disputed][awaiting moderator]in section: Penalty summary

   “The pardon of the corporate entity was particularly notable given HDR had already paid its $100 million civil penalty.”

   reviewerThe pardon of the corporate entity was particularly notable given HDR had already paid its $100 million civil penalty.This is a materially incorrect characterization: the pardoned $100 million fine was a freshly imposed January 2025 criminal penalty from an undisclosed second SDNY criminal case against the corporation, not the already-paid 2021 civil settlement the page describes in an earlier section. This second criminal case (guilty plea July 2024, sentencing January 2025) is entirely absent from the page's sections and timeline.
   Proposed correction (not yet applied)

   The pardon of the corporate entity was particularly notable because it forgave a second, separate $100 million criminal fine imposed on HDR Global Trading Limited in January 2025 — after HDR pleaded guilty in July 2024 to further Bank Secrecy Act violations in a new SDNY criminal case (1:24-cr-424) — rather than the 2021 civil penalty, which HDR had already paid.
   citedtheintercept.com/2025/04/02/trump-pardon…n-bitmex-crypto/

No source the reviewer could reach confirms or contradicts the claim.

1. #3[unverifiable][awaiting moderator]in section: Founding and business

   “By 2021, BitMEX reported average daily trading volumes exceeding $2 billion.”

   reviewerBy 2021, BitMEX reported average daily trading volumes exceeding $2 billion.Plausible given BitMEX's historical scale but I could not independently confirm this specific figure against a primary trading-volume disclosure.
   citeden.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitMEX

The claim was accurate when written but events since have overtaken it.

1. #10[stale][awaiting moderator]in section: Criminal proceedings: corporate guilty plea and $100 million fine (2024-2025)

   “As of 2024, HDR Global Trading Limited operates as a Virtual Asset Service Provider under transitional provisions of the Seychelles Virtual Asset Service Providers Act 2024, pending a licensing decision by the Seychelles Financial Services Authority.”

   reviewerAs of 2024, HDR Global Trading Limited operates as a Virtual Asset Service Provider under transitional provisions of the Seychelles Virtual Asset Service Providers Act 2024, pending a licensing decision by the Seychelles Financial Services Authority.This claim was accurate as of the page's original research window but has been superseded: BitMEX announced its own shutdown in July 2026 and withdrew its Seychelles licence application. The page presents this as current, ongoing status.
   Proposed correction (not yet applied)

   HDR Global Trading Limited operated as a Virtual Asset Service Provider under transitional provisions of the Seychelles Virtual Asset Service Providers Act 2024 pending a licensing decision, but in July 2026 voluntarily withdrew its VASP licence application and announced that BitMEX would wind down and cease operations by September 23, 2026, according to a public notice from the Seychelles Financial Services Authority.
   citedwww.bitmex.com/en/regulatory-licences
2. #11[stale][awaiting moderator]in section: Criminal proceedings: corporate guilty plea and $100 million fine (2024-2025)

   “BitMEX remains inaccessible to U.S. persons pursuant to the consent order and continues to operate in over 120 countries while explicitly excluding the United States, Russia, and several other restricted jurisdictions.”

   reviewerBitMEX remains inaccessible to U.S. persons pursuant to the consent order and continues to operate in over 120 countries while explicitly excluding the United States, Russia, and several other restricted jurisdictions.Same underlying gap as the licensing claim above: the page describes BitMEX as an ongoing, operating exchange without noting the announced full shutdown.
   Proposed correction (not yet applied)

   BitMEX remained inaccessible to U.S. persons pursuant to the consent order and continued to operate in over 120 countries while explicitly excluding the United States, Russia, and several other restricted jurisdictions, until announcing in July 2026 that it would cease all operations by September 23, 2026.
   citedwww.bitmex.com/en/regulatory-licences

The cited evidence supports the claim as written.

1. #1[confirmed][no action needed]in the summary

   “BitMEX (Bitcoin Mercantile Exchange) is a cryptocurrency derivatives exchange founded in 2014 by Arthur Hayes, Ben Delo, and Samuel Reed that pioneered the perpetual swap contract and at its peak was one of the largest crypto derivatives platforms in the world.”

   reviewerBitMEX was founded in 2014 by Arthur Hayes, Ben Delo, and Samuel Reed under HDR Global Trading Limited.Widely corroborated founding facts; BitMEX is consistently credited as the originator of the perpetual swap contract.
   citeden.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitMEX
2. #2[confirmed][no action needed]in section: Founding and business

   “Hayes, a Wharton economics graduate who previously traded equity derivatives at Deutsche Bank and Citigroup in Hong Kong, co-founded the exchange to provide professional-grade Bitcoin derivatives trading.”

   reviewerArthur Hayes was a Wharton economics graduate who previously traded equity derivatives at Deutsche Bank and Citigroup in Hong Kong.Consistent across multiple independent biographical sources.
   citeden.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Hayes_(banker)
3. #4[confirmed][no action needed]in section: Regulatory action: CFTC and DOJ charges (October 2020)

   “The CFTC found that BitMEX received over $11 billion in Bitcoin deposits and generated more than $1 billion in fees.”

   reviewerOn October 1, 2020, the CFTC filed a civil enforcement action against five HDR-affiliated entities and co-founders Hayes, Delo, and Reed, and the DOJ/SDNY simultaneously unsealed a criminal indictment against the three founders plus Gregory Dwyer for BSA violations; BitMEX received over $11 billion in Bitcoin deposits and generated more than $1 billion in fees.Directly and precisely supported by the primary CFTC press release, which is live and matches the archived copy.
   citedwww.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/8270-20
4. #5[confirmed][no action needed]in section: Regulatory action: $100 million CFTC/FinCEN civil settlement (August 2021)

   “FinCEN noted that BitMEX had processed more than $200 million in transactions connected to darknet markets or mixing services. The settlement represented FinCEN's first-ever enforcement action against a futures commission merchant.”

   reviewerOn August 10, 2021, the S.D.N.Y. court ordered BitMEX entities to pay $100 million split between CFTC (up to $50M) and FinCEN; $80M immediate, $20M suspended pending SAR lookback and independent consultant review; FinCEN said BitMEX processed more than $200 million in transactions connected to darknet markets or mixing services; this was FinCEN's first enforcement action against an FCM.All figures in this section check out precisely against the live primary FinCEN release.
   citedwww.fincen.gov/news/news-releases/fincen…gistered-futureswww.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/8412-21
5. #6[confirmed][no action needed]in section: Criminal proceedings: individual guilty pleas and sentences (2022)

   “Samuel Reed pleaded guilty on March 9, 2022 and was sentenced on July 13, 2022 to 18 months of probation, described by the court as 'somewhat less culpable' than the other founders, plus a $10 million fine.”

   reviewerHayes pleaded guilty Feb 2022, sentenced May 20, 2022 to 2 years probation (6 months home detention) + $10M fine; Delo pleaded guilty Feb 2022, sentenced June 15, 2022 to 30 months probation without home confinement + $10M fine; Reed pleaded guilty March 9, 2022, sentenced July 13, 2022 to 18 months probation (court called him 'somewhat less culpable') + $10M fine; Dwyer pleaded guilty August 2022, sentenced November 16, 2022 to 1 year probation + $150,000 fine; CFTC separately ordered $30M total civil penalties across the three founders; none received prison time.All names, dates, sentence terms and fines in this section check out against a mix of primary regulatory releases and live secondary reporting (MLex, Willkie Compliance Concourse).
   citedwww.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/8522-22www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/third-found…y-act-violations
6. #7[confirmed][no action needed]in section: Regulatory action: CFTC consent orders against co-founders ($30 million, 2022)

   “Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao publicly urged BitMEX users who shared email addresses across platforms to change their credentials.”

   reviewerOn November 1, 2019, BitMEX exposed user email addresses via a CC/BCC mishap, attributed it to a software failure, reset passwords for non-2FA accounts with balances, and Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao urged affected BitMEX users to change credentials.Consistent with contemporaneous reporting across multiple independent outlets.
   citedwww.coindesk.com/markets/2019/11/01/bitm…-in-email-mishapwww.coindesk.com/markets/2019/11/04/bitm…l-privacy-breach
7. #8[confirmed][no action needed]in section: Criminal proceedings: corporate guilty plea and $100 million fine (2024-2025)

   “Following the October 2020 charges, HDR Global Trading Limited reorganized as the 100x Group, appointing Alexander Höptner, formerly CEO of German exchange Börse Stuttgart, as the new Chief Executive Officer in November 2020. Vivien Khoo had served as interim CEO during the transition period.”

   reviewerFollowing the October 2020 charges, HDR reorganized as the 100x Group and named Alexander Höptner as new CEO, announced November 2020 (timeline: November 30, 2020), succeeding interim CEO Vivien Khoo.Announcement date matches; the page correctly describes the November 2020 announcement rather than the January 2021 effective start date, so no correction needed.
   citedwww.coindesk.com/markets/2020/12/01/pare…ief-its-new-ceo/
8. #9[confirmed][no action needed]in section: Criminal proceedings: corporate guilty plea and $100 million fine (2024-2025)

   “In partnership with on-chain analytics firm Chainalysis, the exchange reported reducing its on-chain risk exposure by 88%, from 1.7% in 2019 to 0.2% in 2024.”

   reviewerIn partnership with Chainalysis, BitMEX reported reducing its on-chain risk exposure by 88%, from 1.7% in 2019 to 0.2% in 2024.This is a self-reported company figure (tier 3, official/promotional source) with no independent third-party audit found; treated as accurately quoted rather than independently verified.
   citedblog.bitmex.com/compliance-transformation/
9. #16[confirmed][no action needed]in section: Penalty summary

   “Critics, including Axios, characterized the pardons as part of a broader pattern of clemency toward white-collar defendants with connections to the cryptocurrency industry.”

   reviewerCritics, including Axios, characterized the pardons as part of a broader pattern of clemency toward white-collar defendants with connections to the cryptocurrency industry.Verified independently, though this specific Axios article is not listed among the section's cited sources or in sources_used — a minor sourcing gap rather than a factual error.