• The Seychelles-based crypto exchange today unveiled its spot trading platform
• The BitMEX founding trio was recently fined $30 million for illegal business in the US

The BitMEX exchange now allows traders to buy and sell crypto assets offered on its newly launched spot trading platform. To date, the exchange has not supported spot crypto trading, although it was founded more than half a dozen years ago and has spread to over 100 countries.

“Today, BitMEX is one step closer to providing a complete crypto ecosystem for our users to buy, sell and trade their favorite digital assets,” said CEO Alexander Höpner. „We will not rest, as we strive to provide our customers with more features, more trading pairs and more opportunities to participate in the crypto revolution.“

Seven crypto products are traded on the platform

The spot exchange, which has already gone live, supports both market and limit orders. The cryptocurrency pairs currently supported are Bitcoin (XBT), Uniswap (UNI), Polygon (MATIC), Chainlink (LINK), Ethereum (ETH), Apecoin (APE) and Axie Infinity (AXS), all paired with Tether (USDT).

BitMEX confirmed in the announcement post that more cryptocurrencies and other trading pairs are on the way. In order to attract more users to the platform, the Spot exchange has resorted to freebies and offers for existing and potential traders who want to try the exchange.

In order for users to gain access to trading pairs, they need to purchase Tether through the Fiat Gateway partners. These partners include Banxa, which supports fast and secure fiat-to-crypto purchases. Payments can be made via Visa and Mastercard credit/debit cards, Google Pay or Apple Pay.

Controversial founders get into legal trouble

BitMEX’s diversification away from derivatives comes at a time when its founding members are facing legal problems. In February, Arthur Hayes and his partner Benjamin Delo pleaded guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act in a case brought by the Justice Department.

Earlier this month, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York fined the duo and third co-founder, Samuel Reed, $30 million ($10 million each) in a separate case. The court found that between 2014 – the year the exchange began operations – and October 2020, the trio had violated the rules of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Commodity Exchange Act.

“The complaint accused the companies and their founders of operating the BitMEX platform while doing essential aspects of BitMEX’s business from the US, and illegally accepting orders and funds from US clients to trade cryptocurrencies”, wrote the CFTC in the press release announcing the civil penalty.