BitMEX ordered to pay $100 million in fines for violating U.S. banking laws

Global cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX faces additional financial sanctions following its guilty plea to violating the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act of 2022
Judge John Koeltl of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled that BitMEX's parent company,
The court sentenced HDR Global Trading Limited, which is involved in the sale of the scam, to two years of unsupervised probation and a fine of $100 million (approximately 15.5 billion yen).
The ruling found that BitMEX violated the BSA by operating without a meaningful anti-money laundering (AML) program.
The ruling came roughly six months after BitMEX pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges. In July 2024, BitMEX described the allegations as “historic” and said it did not expect any additional fines.
U.S. prosecutors allege that BitMEX did not implement an anti-money laundering program, including know-your-customer (KYC) standards, ignored BSA requirements, and only asked users for their email addresses.
In a statement to users after the ruling, BitMEX reiterated that the BSA charges are "in the past" and that "no additional fines have been imposed."
"Unfortunately, the amount is significantly less than what the Department of Justice has sought over the past three years," the U.S. government explained in a court filing in December 2023.
It alleges that the company illegally earned $155 million in the United States by violating the BSA between 2015 and 2020, and seeks a penalty of $417 million.
However, in its latest ruling, the court dismissed all outstanding charges.
The ruling comes as the company and its executives reach a separate settlement with U.S. regulators as part of a criminal case against BitMEX.
This was done after BitMEX co-founders Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo and Samuel
Reed, along with employee Gregory Dwyer, were sentenced to probation for the 2022 BSA violations.