BitMEX Pleads Guilty to Violating the Bank Secrecy Act

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In violation of the Bank Secrecy Act, BitMEX has admitted guilt in a new announcement from the US Department of Justice on Wednesday.

According to recently released court documents, the Seychelles-based cryptocurrency exchange knowingly failed to establish a proper system for identifying their customers and preventing money laundering between September 2015 and September 2020.

This was brought to light by both the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) charging BitMEX with providing illicit cryptocurrency derivative trading services to American customers and the DOJ pressing charges against four employees for breaking the BSA.

Prior to September 2020, BitMEX enabled customers to register and trade cryptocurrencies with minimal personal information and without any real-name verification, marketing themselves as a platform where retail customers could trade without providing identifying documents.

Prosecutors argue that because of these lax AML/KYC regulations, BitMEX became a hub for money laundering and violating sanctions.