President Trump just issued a pardon to three BitMEX co-founders who pled guilty to money laundering charges in 2022. Unlike the case of Ross Ulbricht, there was no popular movement for these pardons, sparking community confusion.
Meanwhile, Polymarket’s odds of FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried receiving a pardon also went up after this news. The crypto community is somewhat uneasy with the US president pardoning high-profile individuals who have pled guilty to evident wrongdoings.
Trump Issues BitMEX Pardons
​BitMEX, one of the most popular crypto exchanges, and its founders faced charges in the US for willfully violating the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). Between 2015 and 2020, they failed to implement essential anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) programs.
Despite publicly stating that BitMEX did not serve US customers, the founders were aware that the platform had significant user activity from the country.
In 2022, Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo, and Samuel Reed each agreed to pay a $10 million criminal fine, representing gains derived from the offense. In January 2025, BitMEX itself pleaded guilty to violating the BSA and was fined $100 million.
However, in a rather surprising move today, President Trump just pardoned all three co-founders.
Trump did little to publicize these pardons, as neither he nor any of the recipients have yet made a public statement regarding the move. These men only faced fines, probation, and house arrest, and all were completely free at the time.
Arthur Hayes remains an influential commentator, but he has no further involvement with BitMEX.
Will Trump Pardon Sam Bankman-Fried Next?
To call this move unexpected would be an understatement. Trump has given other crypto-related pardons, like with Ross Ulbricht, to be fair.
However, Ulbricht’s case was a cause célèbre in the community. There were no corresponding vocal calls to issue BitMEX pardons, especially considering the founders’ light sentences.
In short, most of the crypto space’s reactions have been negative. At the time, even government crypto allies like “Crypto Mom” Hester Peirce supported the BitMEX arrests, and money laundering has never been popular in the space.
The crypto community is struggling to find a clear motivation for Trump’s pardons other than outright corruption.
“My God, everything is for sale. I think he’ll pardon Sam Bankman-Fried,” said author Jacob Silverman.
For the last few months, FTX mastermind Sam Bankman-Fried and his family have been lobbying President Trump for a pardon. The community mostly considered this possibility a long shot, especially because Bankman-Fried directly opposed Trump in the 2020 election.
Since the BitMEX pardons, Bankman-Fried’s Polymarket odds have shot up on Polymarket.
The crypto industry is in an unprecedented wave of scams, and some commentators worry that it could damage industry confidence. If Trump continues issuing pardons without a clear reason, it may embolden bad actors.
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