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Zack Voell - January 22, 2019

Arthur Hayes is one of the most eccentric, avant garde CEOs in crypto—high energy, eternally meme-able, and anything but camera shy. BitMEX, founded by Arthur and a few friends in 2014, is the most liquid bitcoin derivatives exchange in the world, handling roughly a couple billion dollars’ worth of daily volume. And they are loud about their market dominance.

BitMEX’s swaggering style has attracted a sort of adoring, addicted fan / customer base whom Arthur endearingly refers to as “degenerate gamblers” and “a bunch of children”. BitMEX may be popular in part because it plays fast and loose on the regulatory front. Whether customers make or lose money in (or make or become memes of) their favorite internet money funhouse, the play doesn’t come cheap—anything but.

BitMEX makes enormous amounts of money, frequently millions of dollars in a day, and spends it just as lavishly.

The money it earns goes to fund its rental of the world’s most expensive office space, its spontaneous charitable escapades, and its cheeky ad campaigns, including a front page ad on the Guardian celebrating Bitcoin’s 10th birthday that read: “Thanks, Satoshi. We own you one.”

So, what’s up with MEX lately?