BitMEX, the troubled cryptocurrency exchange reportedly looking for a buyer, has cleared its executive team, ousting CEO Stephan Lutz, CFO Ina Steiner and Chief Growth Officer Raphael Polansky, CoinDesk has learned.
The firm’s former global general counsel and chief operating officer, Peter Wilkinson, has taken over as CEO. The moves were highlighted in recent posts on LinkedIn.
Wilkinson, Lutz, Steiner and Polansky did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Cryptocurrency exchange and derivatives trading platform BitMEX was co-founded in 2014 by Arthur Hayes, Ben Delo, and Samuel Reed. In 2020, BitMEX was alleged to have failed to implement adequate anti-money laundering measures and later pleaded guilty to the charges. Hayes, Delo and Reed resigned shortly after the United States filed criminal charges.
BitMEX is presumably looking to rationalize its costs and appear more attractive to potential buyers, as a continued depression in digital asset prices weighs on the crypto industry.
It was during the latest cryptocurrency crisis in 2022 that Lutz replaced Alexander Hoeptner as CEO, who became CEO in early 2021, when Hayes and his co-founders resigned.
The latest crypto winter has led numerous tech and crypto companies to lay off staff.
