Due to the allegations made by the US government against the cryptocurrency derivatives exchange BitMEX, the analytical company Chainalysis has ranked it as a high-risk platform.
On October 5, Chainalysis contacted its clients, which include government agencies, banks and marketplaces. According to the Chainalysis notice, from October 1, 2020, all trades using this exchange will be considered high risk. Customers using the Chainalysis KYT solution to track suspicious transactions will see alerts in the system. The KYT tool can also mark older trades made on BitMEX with the corresponding icons.
Such changes could adversely affect the willingness of regulated entities to interact with BitMEX. The general director of the fintech company LMAX Group, David Mercer, called this situation a “domino effect”, which worked against the backdrop of the exchange’s proceedings with American regulators.
Recall that on October 1, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed a lawsuit against the BitMEX exchange and its owners, accusing them of illegal activities in the United States and willful violation of KYC and AML rules. Despite the fact that executives of parent company HDR Global Trading deny these allegations, users managed to withdraw more than 32,000 BTC from the exchange within 24 hours after news of the CFTC allegations.
“Clients can define their own risk limits. However, in order to protect users, we must notify them that if any organization, its owners or operators are charged with committing criminal offenses, it becomes extremely dangerous to operate such a site, ”says Chainalysis.
HDR Global Trading executives are aware of this situation and are in talks with Chainalysis and BitMEX continues to operate as usual. According to a BitMEX spokesperson, the custom assets are safe and the withdrawals are made according to the usual schedule.
