Kornelija Kazlauskas 
Arthur Heyes has established himself as one of the most interesting and successful figures in the cryptosphere. He is known best for being the founder of BitMEX, a revolutionary derivative trading platform that revolutionized cryptocurrency exchange markets by offering high-leverage derivatives contracts to users worldwide. His business acumen has yielded immense success for BitMEX, taking Arthur Heyes’ net worth to respectable levels. In this blog post, we’ll take a closer look at how he achieved such tremendous success, discuss his journey to becoming one of crypto’s most notorious innovators, and review his current estimated net worth.
Who Is Arthur Heyes?
Arthur Hayes (born 1985), a Wharton School of Business graduate in 2008, is an American entrepreneur and the co-founder and former CEO of BitMEX – one of the world’s most renowned cryptocurrency exchanges. In 2020, he was reported as being the youngest African American crypto billionaire ever to exist!
Arthur Heyes’ Early Life:
Hayes was born in Detroit, Michigan, to middle-class parents employed with General Motors. After searching for a school that could provide their son with the right environment to excel academically and athletically, they eventually found Nichols School – a private preparatory school in Buffalo, New York. There he participated on the varsity tennis team and cross-country running while graduating second best of his class of 2004. To pay it forward and let other students experience the same education he received at Nichols, He established scholarships that are still available today!
Hayes earned his Bachelor of Science in economics and finance from the prestigious Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 2008. Afterward, he moved to Singapore for a spell.
Foundation of BitMEX:
BitMEX, established in 2014 by the resourceful trio of Arthur Hayes, Ben Delo, and Samuel Reed, is a global giant that has revolutionized the cryptocurrency market. With its headquarters in Seychelles, this sophisticated exchange allows investors to make substantial profits while trading Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
BitMEX was founded to bridge the gap between cryptocurrency market traders seeking advanced trading tools. This platform is designed specifically with experienced professionals in mind, offering high-leverage trades that can magnify their profits and losses on even small price changes in crypto markets. By utilizing this unique toolset, users gain insight into potential scenarios they may have otherwise missed out on – thereby increasing their chances at success significantly!
Without a doubt, BitMEX was one of the world’s most famous and successful cryptocurrency exchanges, with daily trading volumes amounting to billions of dollars. Nonetheless, throughout its journey, it has encountered numerous regulatory obstacles and legal issues connected primarily to its high-leverage offerings that can potentially cause market manipulation.
Arthur Heyes’ Legal Troubles:
In October 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice took aim at Hayes and his partners, with charges claiming that they had neglected to register their company in the United States. Additionally, under the Bank Secrecy Act, BitMEX was charged by CFTC for illegally operating money laundering activity on its platform – making it the first crypto exchange ever to be indicted due to such practices. Consequently, Hayes resigned from the leadership role within BitMex upon these indictments being made against him and his associates.
After his April 2021 arrest in Hawaii, Hayes was freed on bail. Per Financial Insight Zambia Limited’s February 9 article, it appears that the CFTC charged him for obstructing their attempts to access Bitmex user data – a clear case of refusal.
On February 24, 2022, Hayes and three co-founders – Benjamin Delo, Samuel Reed, and Gregory Dwyer – pleaded guilty to “willfully failing to establish an anti-money laundering program at BitMEX.” Given that Hayes was the first offender with numerous charitable contributions in the past, the Probation Department advised a lenient sentence of two years probation without any jail time. Eventually, however, he was sentenced to six months of home confinement and two years probation while agreeing to pay $10 million as a fine for his earnings from the illegal act.
Arthur Heyes’ Net Worth
Despite facing legal obstacles, Arthur Hayes’ net worth has risen to over $500 million by December 2022. His cryptocurrency wallet is public and can be tracked in real time – displaying an astonishing balance of more than 11 million dollars! As a pioneer in the crypto space, he continues to be actively involved as an investor and advisor, with most of his funds invested into the GMX platform (amounting 197 000 tokens), reaping high-interest rates.
