One of the world's first cryptocurrency exchanges, BitMex, is permanently closing its San Francisco office and laying off nearly 30 employees, according to a state regulatory disclosure.
Among those being laid off are the head of U.S. operations, the head of DevOps and its chief information security officer, the exchange's parent company notified the state of California on Monday.
The San Francisco office at 301 Battery St. will close as of Dec. 8, according to the filing.
The layoffs represent about 10% of its global workforce.
“We can confirm that we are closing our US office, and where possible have offered all those impacted the opportunity for relocation. Our focus at this stage is on offering those impacted the support that they require. We will not be commenting further on this,” a BitMex spokesperson told the Business Times via email.
The exchange was founded in 2014 by Arthur Hayes, Ben Delo and Samuel Reed. The venture reportedly made Delo the UK's first bitcoin billionaire.
BitMEX has only raised $25,000 in seed and pre-seed funding since 2015 and is based in the Seychelles, according to Crunchbase. However, on its careers page, the company lists remote positions and other opportunities based in Hong Kong, Singapore, Switzerland and Vancouver.
Just over one year ago, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission sued BitMex and its three founders for illegally operating as a trading platform and violating financial disclosure regulations that are meant to prevent money laundering and fraud.
In August, the commission ordered five corporate entities that oversee BitMex to pay a $100 million civil penalty. Litigation against the founders is ongoing. The named entities are HDR Global Trading Limited, 100x Holding Limited, ABS Global Trading Limited, Shine Effort Inc Limited and HDR Global Services (Bermuda) Limited, according to a press release.
In the August announcement, the commission said BitMex was "no longer maintaining any operations or business functions in the U.S., except for limited personnel performing technology, systems maintenance, and security functions."
