A month before he was laid off, he saw bitcoin online, and the novelty caught his attention. At that time, Bitcoin, which was different from traditional financial products, attracted more and more speculators as its price rose. Arthur found that there was a significant difference in the price of Bitcoin among multiple trading platforms. He naturally became a "brick mover".

When he first started his business, Arthur never imagined that he could make the business so big.

Seven years ago, in order to make a living, 22-year-old Arthur had to endure a salary cut at Deutsche Bank, where he had stayed for several years. After a while, Arthur switched to Citibank, but the sudden wave of layoffs made the newly settled Arthur, unfortunately, became one of them. This top student who graduated from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania just lost his job.

Arthur, who was born in a middle-class family in Buffalo, USA, considered working in the real estate industry and finally chose finance. After losing his job, whether to continue to find another job or start a business became the two choices before this black guy.

A month before he was laid off, he saw bitcoin online, and the novelty caught his attention. At that time, Bitcoin, which was different from traditional financial products, attracted more and more speculators as its price rose. Arthur found that there was a significant difference in the price of Bitcoin among multiple trading platforms. He naturally became a "brick mover".

At that time, due to bank transfer restrictions, he would even take a one-hour bus in Hong Kong to a bank in Shenzhen, withdraw the maximum allowed withdrawal amount of 20,000 yuan, and bring it back to Hong Kong. Although the process was cumbersome, it was completely compliant. It is through such artificial "moving bricks" again and again that he has accumulated the first pot of gold in his life.

Arthur, who has made money, is not satisfied with the status quo. He quickly aimed at the business of opening a trading platform. In the eyes of a financial veteran like him, there is no trading platform on the market that can satisfy him. Why not create one by himself? ?

In January 2014, Arthur, who was no longer satisfied with arbitrage with bricks, found two partners, one is Ben Delo, a computer scientist who graduated from Oxford University, and the other is a senior programmer from the United States Samuel Reed, the three hit it off and co-founded BitMEX.

BitMEX has a strong gene of traditional financial products. Unlike most platforms that provide various encrypted products, it is a pure futures contract platform that provides up to 100 times leverage and perpetual contracts. Almost all of the people who come here to trade are professional cryptocurrency investors.

Arthur and BitMEX, who enjoy high fee income, are indeed taking "adventures" every day.

Due to BitMEX's unique products, the platform subsequently developed rapidly, so that for a long time, BitMEX once occupied the throne of the entire derivatives market. At the beginning of 2018, Arthur, who had already stepped out of the shadow of being laid off, was very energetic in an interview with Bloomberg: "Why do you still suffer from working in a bank? It's time to take a risk and give it a try."

Arthur and BitMEX, who enjoy high fee income, are indeed taking "adventures" every day.

BitMEX was expelled from many countries and regions

Even though BitMEX has become the world's largest bitcoin futures trading platform, occupying the largest market share in bitcoin futures trading, even though Arthur happily shared the exciting data of the trading platform on Twitter, telling people that on BitMEX The amount of open interest exceeds 1 billion US dollars, and the total trading volume of perpetual contracts exceeds 2 trillion US dollars.

But the sword of Damocles in the trading platform industry has always hung over Arthur: BitMEX does not have a compliant license.

In early 2019, according to media reports, BitMEX had to close the accounts of US users due to restrictions from US regulators. Although BitMEX denied this news, it is conceivable that the United States, which has the most stringent regulatory requirements and compliance requirements for the cryptocurrency industry, has no regulatory license for BitMEX to conduct business freely under the attention of US regulators. The investigation of BitMEX by the Trading Commission proves this.

The regulator specifically stated in the statement that unlicensed financial operations are likely to be related to fraud. Obviously, even though BitMEX is well-known in the industry, in the eyes of regulators, not having a license is almost tantamount to fraud.

In this regard, BitMEX has nothing to do. If they cannot complete the UK’s compliance before the registration deadline given by the UK FCA, which is January 2021, then BitMEX can only suspend the business in the UK region and close the accounts of UK users. .

And it's not the first time they've been forced to do so.

In early 2019, according to media reports, BitMEX had to close the accounts of US users due to restrictions from US regulators. Although BitMEX denied this news, it is conceivable that the United States, which has the most stringent regulatory requirements and compliance requirements for the cryptocurrency industry, has no regulatory license for BitMEX to conduct business freely under the attention of US regulators. The investigation of BitMEX by the Trading Commission proves this.

Subsequently, the Canadian regulatory agency AMF seriously warned BitMEX, saying that it was operating illegally in Canada and asked to close the accounts of users in Quebec.

What is even more unfortunate is that in November 2019, the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission SFC issued the "Position Statement on Supervision of Virtual Asset Trading Platforms" and "Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission Published the Terms and Conditions of Regulatory Virtual Asset Trading Platform Issuance of Licenses", formally preparing to make virtual asset transactions compliant change. BitMEX seems to have judged the regulatory trend in Hong Kong in advance, and announced in August that it would stop providing cryptocurrency trading services for Hong Kong users.

Although BitMEX stated in the announcement that closing the accounts of Hong Kong users will not affect the business volume, it should be known that the office of BitMEX headquarters is one of the most expensive office buildings in the Yangtze River Center in Hong Kong. The loss of Hong Kong users is impossible without affecting the business volume.

So far, BitMEX has banned account access from 11 countries and regions, including: the United States, Quebec, Canada, Hong Kong, Seychelles, Bermuda, Cuba, Crimea and Sevastopol, Iran, Syria, North Korea, and Sudan.

What is even more unfortunate is that in November 2019, the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission SFC issued the "Position Statement on Supervision of Virtual Asset Trading Platforms" and "Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission Published the Terms and Conditions of Regulatory Virtual Asset Trading Platform Issuance of Licenses", formally preparing to make virtual asset transactions compliant change. BitMEX seems to have judged the regulatory trend in Hong Kong in advance, and announced in August that it would stop providing cryptocurrency trading services for Hong Kong users.

Although BitMEX stated in the announcement that closing the accounts of Hong Kong users will not affect the business volume, it should be known that the office of BitMEX headquarters is one of the most expensive office buildings in the Yangtze River Center in Hong Kong. The loss of Hong Kong users is impossible without affecting the business volume.

So far, BitMEX has banned account access from 11 countries and regions, including: the United States, Quebec, Canada, Hong Kong, Seychelles, Bermuda, Cuba, Crimea and Sevastopol, Iran, Syria, North Korea, and Sudan.

It is conceivable that under the trend of regulatory compliance in the global cryptocurrency industry, if BitMEX continues to operate without a license, the list of banned IPs will only grow longer and longer.

secondary title

order is coming

While cryptocurrency trading platforms are worrying about compliance issues, many countries around the world seem to have negotiated and released good news at almost the same time.

On March 5, India's Supreme Court lifted a two-year ban on cryptocurrency trading. Indian regulators have been hostile to cryptocurrencies. In July last year, Reuters released news that an Indian expert panel had recommended prohibiting the public from trading cryptocurrencies, and planned to impose up to 10 years in prison and huge fines on relevant individuals. Two years later, the Supreme Court of India overturned the ban, which not only means that cryptocurrency companies can regain access to banking services, but also is expected to activate the market potential of India's population of over one billion.

On March 6, the plenary session of the Korean National Assembly passed the amendment to the special financial law, which will be implemented one year later (that is, in March 2021). The bill includes a cryptocurrency exchange license system, and banks support the real-name registration of cryptocurrency exchange accounts. This means that not only virtual assets have been officially legalized in South Korea, but cryptocurrency exchanges will also be officially regarded as financial institutions.

Not only are some countries starting to encrypt their national currencies, but others are directly legalizing cryptocurrencies and transactions through legislation. For the entire cryptocurrency ecology, legislation used to be something that made them afraid, because they were afraid that they would have to bear huge taxes, heavy declaration pressure, and damage to the concept of decentralization, but faced with more and more Perhaps only the law can give them a sense of security for blockchain financial crimes.

BitMEX may be able to operate in countries and regions where cryptocurrencies are legal, but it is hard for anyone to say how to open up more areas with unclear policies.

secondary title

We are in the age of ordered exchange

If someone told you 20 years ago that a new era of "Blackjack and Texas Hold'em" would appear on the Internet in the future, no identity verification was required, and everyone in the world could participate in a game with just $100. It is a never-ending gambling game, and this game draws prizes every second. I am afraid that no one would believe this story at the time.

However, 20 years later, all this has become a reality.

We have seen that a large number of retail investors and institutions around the world are participating in the wonderful secondary market battle of "trading bitcoin". No qualifications or qualified investor certificates are required, only you have a coin that wants to make money heart of.

Therefore, this matter has been so incredible from the beginning, and the pending compliance issues have become smooth. Whether cryptocurrencies are currencies, commodities or securities, the origin of the problem is difficult to determine, not to mention the regulation framework for cryptocurrency transactions.

Everything on earth has two sides, and the encrypted world is no exception. One side of it is disorder.

Disorder means overgrowth, but it also means opportunity.

Looking at the global macro-assets, you will never find another market like Bitcoin or cryptocurrency, 7*24 hours of trading that never stops, high volatility and at the same time equipped with 100 times leverage, bull-bear conversion It can be completed within one year, and the big cycle only takes four years. You can't find a market with so many novices who don't even master the basic trading rules and analysis methods.

You can’t find such a market now, you couldn’t find it in the past, and you won’t find it in the future. The high-speed rotating market delays the life of every gambler in disguise, and infinitely reduces the learning cost of the secondary market. After all, improving your game is not as good as looking for a table with weaker cards.

From the era of geeks to the era of niche, and finally evolved into the era of commodities (commodity), Bitcoin has continuously helped more educated gamblers complete the transfer and redistribution of wealth, and has also ruthlessly deprived undisciplined gamblers of their savings and even is life.

The opposite of disorder is order.

Many countries, such as India and South Korea, have opened up their attitudes towards cryptocurrencies, and have introduced or are preparing to introduce relevant policies to regulate the industry. These news made the encryption industry very excited, as if they saw the light in the dark tunnel, saw the possibility of letting Bitcoin enter the elegant hall, and saw the possibility of fully compliant business.

The orderly encrypted world may be able to give birth to a new batch of blockchain giants, completely transform social labor relations and the development of global finance, exchange blood for a new batch of the world's top rich people, and create a new category such as cryptocurrency An asset class that allows tokens to replace securities.

However, everything has pros and cons, and the pros and cons depend on the angle you stand at.

If you are a bitcoin or cryptocurrency trader, sorry, the compliant crypto industry will only make it harder for you. After more educated harvesters enter the market, they will reshape and plunder today's fish ponds.

Reference article:

1、Bored With Banking, This Former Citi Trader Went Full Crypto

2、BitMEX: A bitcoin journey from bags of cash to the Cheung Kong Center