BitMEX’s Delo Will Not Face Prison After Guilty Plea
Ben Delo pleaded guilty to charges of violating the Bank Secrecy Act earlier this year.

BitMEX co-founder Benjamin Delo will spend 30 months on probation after being sentenced in a New York federal court Wednesday.
Delo, alongside BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes, pleaded guilty to charges of violating the Bank Secrecy Act earlier this year in a case that stemmed from 2020. Delo also agreed to pay a $10 million fine in settling a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) case filed in February.
Hayes was previously sentenced to six months of home detention and two years of probation, alongside a similar fine.
A spokesperson from Smith Villazor, the firm representing Delo, said, “We are pleased that the Court appropriately rejected the government’s cynical attempt to exaggerate the seriousness of the Bank Secrecy Act charge in this case. Today’s sentence of probation recognized that this case involved a compliance lapse that led to a regulatory violation – and nothing more.”
The DOJ, alongside the CFTC and FinCEN, announced they were charging BitMEX and its founders with violating both civil and criminal statutes by allowing U.S. residents to trade crypto derivatives on the exchange despite it not being registered in the country, and having poor know-your-customer (KYC) practices.
The exchange itself, which saw its leadership changed after the charges were announced, settled with the CFTC and FinCEN last summer, agreeing to a $100 million fine split between the two agencies.
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KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.
What to know:
- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
- This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
- Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
- Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
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Coinbase’s Base faces builder backlash over creator coin push

Builders on Base are pushing back against the network’s close alignment with Zora, arguing the creator-coin narrative sidelines established projects.
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- Base has seen a surge in creator-coin issuance via Zora, with daily token mints surpassing Solana in August, boosting onchain activity and attention.
- Some Base-native projects say marketing and social support has become narrowly focused on Zora-linked initiatives, leaving other established communities without recognition.
- While Base continues to process more than 10 million transactions per day, critics warn that deteriorating builder sentiment could push projects toward rival chains like Solana or Sui.











