BitMEX Traders Withdrew $243 Million of Bitcoin in One Hour

Traders withdrew 23,200 Bitcoin ($243 million) from crypto derivatives exchange BitMEX in a single hour, according to data provider Glassnode. This came after the CFTC issued charges against it yesterday and arrested its CTO.

This amount of Bitcoin represented 13% of the amount of Bitcoin held on the exchange—an estimated sum of 170,000 Bitcoin ($1.8 billion).

Glassnode added that this was the single greatest amount of Bitcoin withdrawn in a single hour from the exchange.

BitMEX is an exchange known for offering high-leverage trading against Bitcoin—up to 100x. It is based in the Seychelles and had low KYC requirements for its traders.

As Decrypt reported, the CFTC issued charges against BitMEX yesterday with operating an unregistered trading platform, failing to impose anti-money laundering procedures, and other violations.

In a separate indictment unsealed yesterday, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York also filed criminal actions against the exchange’s owners, Arthur Hayes, Ben Delo, and Samuel Reed, for violating the Bank Secrecy Act and conspiracy to violate the Bank Secrecy Act.

The feds also arrested Gregory Dwyer, whose Twitter bio describes him as the head of business development at BitMEX. He was charged with one count of violating the Bank Secrecy Act, and one count of conspiring to violate the Bank Secrecy Act.

BitMEX denied the charges and said it will defend the allegations vigorously.

Editor's note: This story was updated to clarify that the charges against BitMEX were filed in the Southern District of New York.