The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the UK’s financial watchdog, has warned against Bitmex, one of the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchanges. The regulator believes the firm has been providing financial services or products in the UK without their authorization.
The FCA asks investors in the UK to “be especially wary of dealing with this unauthorized firm” and explains “how to protect yourself from scammers”. “Almost all firms and individuals offering, promoting or selling financial services or products in the UK have to be authorized by us. However, some firms act without our authorization and some knowingly run investment scams”, the statement said.
“This firm is not authorized by us and is targeting people in the UK. Based upon information we hold, we believe it is carrying on regulated activities which require authorization”, it continued. Be aware that scammers may give out other false details or change their contact details over time to new email addresses, telephone numbers or physical addresses.
The FCA was clearly targeting the leading crypto exchange as it
pointed out to the official email and website.
Email: [email protected], [email protected]
Website: : www.bitmex.com/
BitMEX is a cryptocurrency exchange and derivative trading platform founded in 2014 by Arthur Hayes, Ben Delo, and Samuel Reed, and is owned and operated by HDR Global Trading Limited, which is registered in the Seychelles and has offices worldwide.
In 2019, Bloomberg reported that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) was investigating BitMEX as to whether they broke rules by allowing Americans to trade on the platform.
Regulators are particularly concerned with BitMex targeting their citizens as the crypto derivatives trading platform offers 100x leverage on Bitcoin futures contracts as well as high leverage on altcoins.
According to the crypto exchange, BitMEX’s XBTUSD market is the most liquid in the world with 1500% more Bitcoin / USD Liquidity than the average. Trading volume for the last 24 hours was $2.9 billion, reaching $118.83 billion in the last 30 days. The yearly trading volume is over a trillion dollars, at $1.22 trillion.
BitMex claims to be in a constant auditing process of balances and history of all accounts, with 100 audits per second. The firm says it has never lost a Bitcoin through intrusion or hacking and holds all funds in cold storage.
