In an interesting response to the aftermath of law enforcement activity against former CEO Arthur Hayes, BitMex is taking steps some might view as counterintuitive, or low priority, given how the BitMex name has been beat up in the financial world.
Coindesk reports BitMex is planning to add services, including spot trading and other brokerage extras, as it continues to wrestle with a history of shay behavior, as allege by U.S. enforcement agencies.
New CEO Alexander Hoptner came on board late last year, and wants to build BitMex into something that has a better reputation.
“I was coming from the regulated and classical world. I have a lot of touchpoints with the regulators already…Now I’m working on the crypto side and bringing the crypto side to the regulated world,” said Hoptner in a statement, according to reporting at Coindesk by Tanzeel Akhtar.
There’s also a new chief financial officer, Stephan Lutz.
“There’s nothing quite as dynamic, all-encompassing, and interesting as crypto, and in my mind there’s no company that’s better positioned to succeed in this space than (BitMex holding structure) 100x Group,” said Lutz at his appointment, according to a piece published on the BitMex blog. “We need to be as agile as we are innovative in this hyper-competitive industry while also being strategic amid the fast-moving regulatory backdrop. I believe that crypto will increasingly proliferate into classic use cases and that this will prompt bi-directional change. Crypto will shape traditional financial services as it matures further as an asset class.”
Like some other financial parties, BitMex was accused of facilitating unregistered trading by the SEC. Unlike some of these other parties, there’s an APB out for Arthur Hayes, who Coindesk reports is currently on the lam in Singapore.
As for Alexander – he didn’t comment on what prior BitMex leaders are facing. The rumor is that Hayes may surrender to U.S. law enforcement within the coming month.
What’s next? Traders are looking for safe places to do business in an area of finance that gets a lot of agency scrutiny. Plan accordingly.
