Trump Does Crypto?! You Won’t Believe What Happens Next! 😱

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Right then, chums! It appears that none other than that dashed American chap, ex-President Donald Trump, has seen fit to extend a presidential pardon – a veritable Get-Out-of-Jail-Free card, if you will – to the three blokes who founded the BitMEX crypto exchange. Seems they’d been having a bit of a barney with the US Department of Justice (DOJ), a kerfuffle that involved accusations of violating the Bank Secrecy Act. One might say they were in a bit of a pickle, what? 🥒

The US Government Vs. Those BitMEX Blighters

Back in the mists of 2020, the DOJ, never one to shy away from a spot of legal fisticuffs, accused BitMEX of running a crypto platform that hadn’t quite grasped the concept of Anti-Money Laundering (AML) measures. Apparently, this was a frightful breach of the Bank Secrecy Act. US prosecutors, with their usual gusto, claimed BitMEX had been knowingly soliciting business from US markets, content with nothing more than an email address from its users. A rather flimsy approach to knowing one’s customer, wouldn’t you agree? 🤔

Fast forward to 2022, and Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo, and Samuel Reed – the trio who birthed BitMEX back in 2014 – rather sheepishly pled guilty to the charges laid out by the DOJ. All involved, including Gregory Dwyer, who, as Head of Business Development, had found himself in a similar soup, were ordered to endure varying spells of probation and cough up a total fine exceeding $30 million. Ouch! 💸

Two years hence, BitMEX, as a corporate entity, admitted guilt to the single count of flouting the Bank Secrecy Act, receiving a sentence of two years’ probation and a fine of $100 million. But hold your horses! According to local rag USA TODAY, President Trump, in a display of unexpected magnanimity, has pardoned all four defendants in this little drama, declaring them free of all convictions and penalties. What a jolly surprise! 🎉

This full and unconditional pardon by President Trump is a vindication of the position we have always held – that BitMEX, my co-founders, and I should never have been charged with a criminal offense through an obscure, antiquated law.

Trump’s Pro-Crypto Express Chugs On

The recent pardon of the BitMEX chaps merely adds another carriage to Trump’s ever-growing pro-crypto train. In addition to Hayes and his cohorts, the US President has also pardoned Silk Road Founder Ross Ulbricht, who’s been languishing in the clink for over 11 years, serving a double life sentence plus 40 years without the possibility of parole. A rather stiff sentence, even for a chap involved in such dodgy dealings. 😮

Under Trump’s crypto-friendly umbrella, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has also seemingly lost its appetite for pursuing crypto companies, including Coinbase, Robinhood, Gemini, and Ripple. While these developments suggest a more accommodating stance from the new US government, the crypto market continues to experience the aftershocks of new international trade policies. One step forward, two steps back, eh? 🙄

At the time of writing, the crypto market is valued at a rather hefty $2.68 trillion, having shrunk by over 4% in the past day following the US decision to slap a 25% tariff on auto imports from Mexico and China. A spot of financial turbulence, no doubt.

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2025-03-30 00:13