The 100x Group, owner and operator of the BitMEX exchange, announced on Monday the appointment of Malcolm Wright as its compliance manager. BitMEX, facing accusations from the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), is continuing with the restructuring of its leadership, after removing CEO Arthur Hayes and the exchange’s founders last week.
Malcolm Wright served as CCO at British financial services firm Revolut in 2018, and for the past two years at Hong Kong-based exchange Diginex. In particular, the announcement highlights Wright’s expertise in recommendations for Digital Asset Service Providers (VASPs) from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). These recommendations make up a guide with a risk-based approach aimed at digital asset operators.
BitMEX’s new compliance manager made it a priority for that platform to collaborate with regulators to “securely support digital markets.” Malcolm, according to the announcement, would focus on developing the BitMEX User Verification Program.
Bitmex was accused of operating illegally in the United States on October 1, in addition to violating the bank secrecy law and breaching the Know Your Customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering guidelines. The accusation stems from the complaint filed by the CFTC before the New York Southern District Court on October 1.
The executives indicted by the CFTC were BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes, head of business development Greg Dwyer, and co-founders Ben Delo and Samuel Reed. The latter was arrested on October 1 and later released on bail of USD 5 million.
Later, last Thursday, BitMEX’s board of directors was removed as a consequence of the legal process initiated by the CFTC, after which the 100x Group appointed COO, Vivien Khoo, as CEO in charge.
How does BitMEX work?
BitMEX offers two types of contracts: futures contracts and perpetual contracts. A Futures Contract is defined as an agreement to buy or sell the underlying asset for an agreed price at a very specific time in the future.
It allows trade-in coins without ever having to own them. A perpetual contract is similar but does not have an expiration date. Trading these is similar to normal spot trading.
BitMEX has unique characteristics that differentiate it from other platforms. Some of the most important: “Cold” storage wallets to hold user funds. Offers advanced trading tools: margin loan, leverage, and stop-loss orders. The account leverage function is an option that very few exchanges have on their trading platforms.
They use the multisig deposit and withdrawal scheme, which is a technology used to add additional security for cryptocurrency transactions. These operations require another user or users to sign a transaction before it can be transmitted to the blockchain.
By: Jenson Nuñez.
