Bitmex Co-Founder Arthur Hayes Avoids Prison for Violating US Bank Secrecy Act

Bitmex co-founder Arthur Hayes is not going to prison for violating the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act. Instead, the former crypto exchange CEO has been sentenced to “six months of home detention and two years of probation.” Hayes has agreed to pay a fine of $10 million.

Bitmex’s Arthur Hayes Sentenced

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Friday that the founder and former CEO of cryptocurrency derivatives exchange Bitmex has been sentenced for violating the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). Hayes pleaded guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act in February.

The DOJ states:

Hayes, 36, of Miami, Florida, was sentenced to six months of home detention and two years of probation. Hayes also agreed to pay a fine of $10 million dollars representing his pecuniary gain from the offense.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams explained that while building a cryptocurrency trading platform “that profited him millions of dollars,” Hayes “willfully defied U.S. law that requires businesses to do their part to help in preventing crime and corruption.”

Williams added: “He intentionally failed to implement and maintain even basic anti-money laundering policies, which allowed Bitmex to operate as a platform in the shadows of the financial markets.”

Two other Bitmex co-founders, Benjamin Dalo and Sam Reed, also pleaded guilty and are scheduled to be sentenced in the near future.

Like Hayes, the two other co-founders have also been ordered to pay $10 million each in a civil monetary penalty.

What do you think about Arthur Hayes’ sentence? Let us know in the comments section below.

Kevin Helms

A student of Austrian Economics, Kevin found Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His interests lie in Bitcoin security, open-source systems, network effects and the intersection between economics and cryptography.