# BitMEX > [!info] Stub > Minimum-viable page created to resolve a wikilink. Expand with the full corporate history, the CFTC/DOJ settlement terms, the 2026 shutdown, and the exchange's role in offshore crypto market structure. Cryptocurrency derivatives exchange founded in 2014 by [[Ben Delo]], Arthur Hayes and Sam Reed. BitMEX popularised the **perpetual swap** — the leveraged derivative that became the dominant instrument in global crypto speculation — with Delo credited by Bloomberg as the co-founder most responsible for its invention. In October 2020 the Department of Justice and the CFTC charged the founders with violating the **Bank Secrecy Act** by failing to maintain an adequate anti-money-laundering programme. All pleaded guilty; Delo received 30 months' probation and a $10 million civil penalty. [[Donald Trump]] pardoned the co-founders in March 2025. BitMEX is relevant to this KB chiefly as the source of the fortune Delo has since converted into record-breaking political donations to [[Reform UK]] — the British node of the pattern tracked under [[Crypto-Political Machine]]. ## See Also - [[Ben Delo]] - [[Reform UK]] - [[Crypto-Political Machine]]