Arthur Hayes, the former CEO of crypto exchange BitMEX, has been granted a pardon by U.S. President Donald Trump, a White House official confirmed Friday.

Trump also pardoned Hayes’ co-founders at BitMEX, Samuel Reed and Benjamin Delo, as well as senior employee Greg Dwyer and BitMEX’s operating entity, HDR Global Trading, a BitMEX spokesperson said. CNBC first reported the pardons, which the White House said were signed on Thursday.

In 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) brought charges against BitMEX, its three co-founders, and its first employee, Dwyer, accusing them of violating the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). Prosecutors alleged BitMEX advertised itself as a place where customers could use its platform virtually anonymously, without providing basic know-your-customer (KYC) information. All four individuals eventually pleaded guilty and were sentenced to fines and probationary sentences. The exchange itself pleaded guilty to violating the BSA last year.

Hayes faced two years of probation; Delo spent 30 months on probation and Reed 18 months on probation. Dwyer got 12 months of probation.

In a statement, Delo said he and his colleagues had been “wrongfully targeted.”

“This full and unconditional pardon by President Trump is a vindication of the position we have always held — that BitMEX, my co-founders and I should never have been charged with a criminal offense through an obscure, antiquated law,” he said. “As the most successful crypto exchange of its kind, we were wrongfully made to serve as an example, sacrificed for political reasons and used to send inconsistent regulatory signals. I’m sincerely grateful to the President for granting this pardon to me and my co-founders.”

Hayes just said “thank you” on X (formerly known as Twitter).

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission ordered BitMEX to pay $100 million for violating the Commodity Exchange Act and other CFTC regulations in 2021, separately from its DOJ settlements.

Attorneys representing Hayes, Delo and Reed did not immediately return requests for comment.

The reported pardons come just a day after Trump granted a pardon to Trevor Milton, the former CEO of Nikola Motors who was previously convicted of fraud in 2022. In January, Trump made good on long-standing promises to pardon Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht, who was 11 years into a draconian sentence of double life in prison plus 40 years, with no possibility of parole. Since Ulbricht’s pardon, former FTX CEO and convicted fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried has been angling for his own pardon, attempting to curry favor with the Trump administration and appearing on Tucker Carlson in an unauthorized jailhouse interview that landed him in solitary confinement.

Former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, who pleaded guilty to the same charge as Hayes and served four months in prison last year — making him not only the richest person to ever go to prison in the U.S., but also the only person to ever serve jail time for violating the BSA — has denied reports that he, too, is seeking a pardon from President Trump.

But, Zhao admitted in a recent X post that “no felon would mind a pardon, especially being the only one in US history who was ever sentenced to prison for a single BSA charge.”

UPDATE (March 28, 2025, 20:40 UTC): Adds Delo statement and White House official.

UPDATE (March 28, 21:06 UTC): Adds Hayes.

UPDATE (March 29, 04:15 UTC): Adds Dwyer and HDR.

Crypto analyst Tony Severino has warned that the Bitcoin price risks a further crash. This came as he revealed a critical technical indicator, which has turned bearish for the flagship crypto, although he noted that BTC bulls can still invalidate this current bearish setup. 

Bitcoin Price At Risk Of Further Crash As S&P Monthly LMACD Turns Bearish

In an X post, Severino indicated that the Bitcoin price could crash further as the S&P 500 monthly LMACD has begun to cross bearish and the histogram has turned red. This development is significant as IntoTheBlock data shows that BTC and the stock market still have a strong positive price correlation.  

Related Reading

The crypto analyst stated that BTC bulls can turn this bearish setup for the Bitcoin price in the next 20 days, as diverging would lead to a bullish setup instead. However, the Bulls’ failure to turn this around for Bitcoin could lead to a massive decline for the flagship crypto, worse than it has already witnessed. 

Severino stated that a confirmation of this bearish setup at the end of the month could kick off a bear market or Black Swan type event similar to what happened when the last two crossovers occurred. It is worth mentioning that BTC has already crashed to as low as $76,000 recently, sparking concerns that the bear market might already be here. 

However, crypto experts such as BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes have suggested that the bull market is still well in play for the Bitcoin price. Hayes noted that BTC has corrected around 30% from its current all-time high (ATH), which he remarked is normal in a bull run. The BitMEX founder predicts that the flagship crypto will rebound once the US Federal Reserve begins to ease its monetary policies. 

BTC Still Looking Good Despite Recent Crash

Crypto analyst Kevin Capital has suggested that the Bitcoin price still looks good despite the recent crash. In his latest market update, he stated that BTC remains the best-looking chart and that everything is going according to plan for the flagship crypto. The analyst predicts that Bitcoin could still come down and test the range between $70,000 and $75,000, which he claims would still be completely fine. 

Related Reading

Kevin Capital remarked that the Bitcoin price could remain afloat if it holds a key market structure and the 3-day MACD resets. He added that some decent macro data could help the flagship crypto stay above key support levels. The US CPI data will be released today, which could provide some relief for the market if it shows that inflation is slowing. The analyst is confident that one good inflation report and the FOMC can help turn the tides. 

At the time of writing, the Bitcoin price is trading at around $81,860, up over 2% in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

Featured image from Adobe Stock, chart from Tradingview.com

BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes is doubling down on his call that Bitcoin (BTC) and crypto will likely see lower prices before rallying to new all-time highs.

Late last month, Hayes predicted that BTC would drop to as low as $70,000 amid a slew of bearish macroeconomic and crypto signals before rallying to as high as $250,000.

“Subtle movements between central bank balance sheet levels, the rate of banking credit expansion, the relationship between the US 10-yr treasury/stocks/Bitcoin prices, and the insane Official Trump (TRUMP) memecoin price action produced a pit in my stomach. This is a similar feeling I got in late 2021, right before the bottom fell out of the crypto markets.”

Following the severe pullback witnessed over the weekend, Hayes says the correction in crypto will likely continue “until morale improves.”

According to the crypto veteran, the downside price action will only stop once the traditional financial (TradFi) industry is on the brink of collapse. At that point, Hayes believes that the Fed would ease monetary policy and give TradFi firms some relief.

“The pain stops when a TradFi outfit is on the verge of bankruptcy. Then the Fed reluctantly joins team Trump and prints that money. And then you better be ready to buy crypto like you have never bought before.” 

Looking at Solana (SOL), Hayes says that the altcoin can drop to a level last seen in November of last year.

“And they said you would never be able to buy SOL < $200 ever again. Can we go to $150?”

At time of writing, SOL is worth $216.

Don’t Miss a Beat – Subscribe to get email alerts delivered directly to your inbox

Check Price Action

Follow us on X, Facebook and Telegram

Surf The Daily Hodl Mix

&nbsp

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed at The Daily Hodl are not investment advice. Investors should do their due diligence before making any high-risk investments in Bitcoin, cryptocurrency or digital assets. Please be advised that your transfers and trades are at your own risk, and any losses you may incur are your responsibility. The Daily Hodl does not recommend the buying or selling of any cryptocurrencies or digital assets, nor is The Daily Hodl an investment advisor. Please note that The Daily Hodl participates in affiliate marketing.

Generated Image: Midjourney