Trump pardons BitMEX founders Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo, and Samuel Reed, who previously pled guilty to federal criminal charges related to money laundering
Is Do Kwon Next? Associated Press : Trump pardons founder of electric vehicle start-up Nikola, Trevor Milton Assad Jafri / CryptoSlate : Trump exonerates BitMEX co-founder in landmark anti-money laundering case Benson Toti / Bitcoin Insider : Trump pardons co-founders of BitMex crypto exchange Jai Hamid / Cryptopolitan : Trump pardons BitMEX founders Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo and Samuel Reed CoinDesk : President Trump Pardons Arthur Hayes, BitMEX and 3 Other Co-Founders and Employee Jaxon Gaines / Watcher Guru : US President Donald Trump Pardons Founders of BitMex Crypto Exchange Mat Di Salvo / Decrypt : Trump Pardons Bitcoin Billionaire Arthur Hayes, Fellow BitMEX Founders Ivan Crnogatić / Benzinga : Donald Trump Pardons BitMex Co-Founders Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo, Samuel Reed Godfrey Benjamin / CoinGape : BitMEX Co-Founder Arthur Hayes Granted US Presidential Pardon Turner Wright / Cointelegraph : Trump pardons 3 BitMEX co-founders — Report Bloomberg : Trump Pardons BitMEX Crypto Exchange Co-Founder Arthur Hayes Vivian Nguyen / Crypto Briefing : Trump pardons BitMEX founders Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo, and Samuel Reed Micah Zimmerman / crypto.news : Trump pardons BitMEX co-founders convicted of financial crimes: report Jalpa Bhavsar / The Crypto Times : Did Trump Just Pardon the Three Bitmex Co-Founders? Prakhar Srivastava / Reuters : Trump pardoned BitMEX co-founders, White House official says RT Watson / The Block : Trump pardons BitMEX co-founders, including Arthur Hayes: report Bart Jansen / USA Today : Trump pardons three founders of BitMEX cryptocurrency exchange convicted of money laundering Bluesky: @junowoodruff : He is insane and soon, in short order, all criminals who praise him will be back on the streets cuz, you know, he's the law and order president. @zero-to-hero : Convicted felon also pardons other convicted felons to no surprise whatsoever. The grift continues. I wouldn't be surprised if he pardons Tiger King next. Mike / @mjz1957 : Trump's continued firehose of pardons for crimes related to public trading markets, his DOJ's unwillingness to prosecute for financial crimes, and desire to eliminate swaths of financial regulation comprise a de-facto unwinding of the 1933 Securities Act. — #Econsky — www.cnbc.com/2025/03/28/t... Craig Harrington / @craigipedia : The professional money launderer president using his king-like powers to grant pardons to other money launderers is very on-brand. Still plenty of time for stock markets to drop even further on this news! www.cnbc.com/2025/03/28/t... X: @cz_binance : Congrats, @CryptoHayes! https://www.cnbc.com/... @bonkdacarnivore : Thought I was done with today's “fraud isn't a crime” trend? Think again. Trump pardons the 3 founders of BitMEX, which turned out to be nothing but a money laundering operation. The 3 founders, together, donated 10 million dollars to the Trump inauguration fund. Coincidental [image] Henry M. Rosenberg / @doctorhenryct : Trump just pardoned 3 crypto crooks. I am starting to see what Trump is doing. He is pardoning all of the rich people so they will throw their money behind him to complete the oligarchy. They will use that money to subdue and intimidate us. https://www.cnbc.com/... Flood / @thinkingusd : Well deserved. BitMEX was the single most important exchange for American Financial innovation. It was an unfair and unjust process that got them felonies. This wrong as been righted. BitMEX changed my life and was the start of my entire career. @CryptoHayes @STRML_ @bendelo Dan Primack / @danprimack : Add this to the Nikola pardon from earlier today, and financial fraudsters must be getting super excited about the next few years. Trump pardons three co-founders of BitMex crypto exchange https://www.cnbc.com/... Forums: r/Sverige : Trump Benådar dömda bedragare r/law : (CNBC) r/NoShitSherlock : (CNBC) r/wallstreetbets : Trump pardons three co-founders of BitMEX crypto exchange r/news : Trump pardons three co-founders of BitMEX crypto exchange r/politics : Trump pardons three co-founders of BitMex crypto exchange
Context & Ripple Effects
This pardon sits alongside a broader crypto-policy turn in the related coverage: the administration had already identified major tokens for a strategic US crypto reserve, putting official recognition of the sector on the agenda.
Later coverage extends that arc to Binance’s Changpeng Zhao, while describing industry efforts to ease regulation and shed criminal associations through a wider push for crypto rehabilitation. The BitMEX action is an early, concrete test of how that political shift intersects with past enforcement cases.
First-order effects
- Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo, and Samuel Reed receive clemency for the federal criminal matters to which they had pleaded guilty, removing the continuing consequences of those convictions that a pardon addresses.
- The move publicly separates the founders’ personal legal status from BitMEX’s earlier anti-money-laundering case, giving the exchange’s leadership history a different political framing.
Second-order effects
- Other crypto founders and exchanges gain a salient precedent that past enforcement cases can be revisited politically, even though a pardon does not itself rewrite compliance obligations.
- The decision strengthens the practical value of the sector’s legitimacy campaign: firms can point to clemency as evidence that the policy climate is becoming more accommodating, while critics can use it to question enforcement consistency.
Third-order effects
- If repeated across major cases, clemency could become part of the crypto industry’s route from enforcement-defined outsider to politically connected financial constituency—the central tension in the later pardon of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao.
- That would widen the gap between formal anti-money-laundering rules and perceptions of how durable their consequences are, increasing pressure for clearer, institution-based regulatory standards rather than case-by-case political signals.
The trend: Crypto’s policy normalization is increasingly being expressed not only through asset policy and regulation, but through the political rehabilitation of founders previously associated with enforcement actions.