BitMex is still facing a courtroom attack in the US for allegedly facilitating money laundering and is trying to show regulators that it is trying.
On January 12, the legally beleaguered crypto exchange published a blog post promoting further work with blockchain analytics company Chainalysis. BitMex said its goal is to “identify, investigate and stop illegal transactions”.
Chain analysis is known as a go-to for government agencies looking to track crypto transactions. The company was instrumental in the Justice Department seizure of cryptocurrency, including over $ 1 billion worth of Bitcoin and its offshoots from an unnamed hacker on the Silk Road, as well as a network of terrorist finance related to a crypto exchange in Idlib , Syria. It is this reputation for working with governments that BitMex is likely to try to exploit.
The move can be too little, too late. BitMex was theoretically partnering with Chainalysis even when the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and DoJ filed civil and criminal complaints against the crypto exchange, its affiliates and executives in early October.
On the same day as the blog post, BitMex approved the judge in the CFTC case approving the exchange’s motion to postpone a response date from January 15 to February 12. The CFTC accuses BitMex of deliberately offering unregistered derivative sales to US retailers to investors, which would result in fines if proved. The DoJ’s case goes a step further, claiming that the company relies on money laundering as part of its business model, which could result in jail time for those responsible at BitMex.
There is little argument to suggest that US persons actually accessed BitMex’s derivatives trading, but the CFTC case will likely depend on the concept of user access due diligence. It looks like BitMex is using its extra time to support its existing compliance efforts. Just last week, the company announced that it had verified 100% of its users.
Neither BitMex nor Chainalysis had responded to Cointelegraph’s request for comment at the time of publication.
