I'm sure some of you freaks have heard the news already; the CFTC has come down hard on BitMEX, a derivatives exchange based in the Seychelles that offers users the ability to trade cryptocurrency futures. The exchange has been charged with breaking rules outlined in the Bank Secrecy Act, mainly revolving around KYC/AML compliance of their users. One of the co-founders, Samuel Reed, has been arrested in Boston while the three other founders named in the indictment remain "at large".

BitMEX has been a stalwart in the industry for the last six years. Providing bitcoiners around the world with a valuable service; the ability to get exposure to derivatives markets to hedge price risk, attempt to accumulate more bitcoins, or throw them into the abyss known as the BitMEX insurance fund. In the early days, the exchange offered their services to users connecting to the exchange via IP addresses located in the US, but stopped allowing US IPs to access the exchange some time ago as the risk of the US Government coming down on BitMEX proved too high. Well, today it looks like they should have implemented that policy out of the gate as the long arm of the US Government has come to serve "justice" to BitMEX and its founders. Again, the reasons being cited for throwing BitMEX's founders in cages is due to a lack of KYC/AML compliance.

As you freaks know, we are not the biggest fans of KYC/AML compliance here at the Bent. The overbearing compliance turns out to do much more harm than good as innocent civilians have the personal data that they are forced to share with the companies they interact with stolen and sold on black markets to criminals looking to engage in identity fraud. Or worse, locate individuals to physically harm them. All the while, the same system put in place to protect civilians from the drug trade and money laundering allows the facilitation of money laundering from the largest drug traffickers, human traffickers, and kleptocrats around the world behind the scenes. This was made very evident a couple of weeks agobackward when there was a data dump of leaked files from FinCEL that proved some of the largest banks in the world have been profiting off of individuals engaged in the nefarious activities described above without any repercussions outside of an occasional fine.

From what I can tell, BitMEX hasn't been proven to or been charged with facilitating any of the activities described above. It is being harassed for allowing US citizens to access its services in the past. What an ass backward, two-tiered world we live in. This act proves just how long the arm of the US government has been around the world. Hint: it is omnipresent. If you breathe oxygen on this planet, the US government has some sort of control over you.

The CFTC, in conjunction with the FBI and other alphabet soup agencies that have continually failed the American people, are out to curb innovation and protect the incumbent criminals who run the international banking system which is backed by the US Dollar.

BitMEX is an incredibly innovative company that provides innovative products that stay true to the core ethos of Bitcoin. Fiat rails were never touched when people engaged with BitMEX. It is a pure Bitcoin company that has utilized the censorship-resistant properties of the network to bring an extremely innovative product offering to the market. This can't happen in a world where the largest criminals are in charge of the game. Newcomers need not try.

With that being said, if you are an international reader who also uses BitMEX, you probably want to move your coins off the exchange while you still have a chance. We'll keep you freaks up to date with the story as it unfolds.

Final thought...

Hard boiled eggs, bacon, and leftover ribs. The 2pm breakfast of champions.