U.S. regulatory authorities on Thursday brought a series of civil and criminal charges against BitMEX. Since then more than 41,000 bitcoin were withdrawn from the Seychelles-based crypto exchange. Where did it go, triggering a brief market sell-off? Data shows much of it went to competitors Binance, Gemini and Kraken.
- As of Oct. 2 01:00 UTC, 11,257 BTC moved from BitMEX to these exchanges: 4,786 BTC to Binance, 3,899 to Gemini and 989 to Kraken, according to data provided by CryptoQuant.
- BitMEX’s bitcoin outflow to these exchanges could show traders are putting a higher priority on better compliance with regulations or better-leveraged bitcoin trading products.
- Gemini, the U.S.-based and Winklevoss brothers-owned exchange is known for strict “know-your-customer (KYC)” procedures.
- Binance, the leading crypto exchange by spot trading volume, has surpassed BitMEX, becoming the No.1 crypto exchange in 24-hour bitcoin futures trading volume.
- San Francisco-based crypto exchange Kraken is the first cryptocurrency firm in the U.S. to become a bank, after its application for a special purpose depository institution (SPDI) charter was approved by regulators on the Wyoming Banking Board.
- Failure to implement proper KYC rules is among the charges against BitMEX by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
- Once the leading crypto derivatives exchange, BitMEX’s market share has waned, with many other venues offering a variety of bitcoin derivatives trading instruments.
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