- US President Donald Trump has pardoned BitMEX co-founders Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo, and Samuel Reed.
- CNBC reports that Trump also pardoned Nikola founder Trevor Milton.
- The US president pardoned Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht earlier in the year.
US President Donald Trump has granted pardons to three co-founders of the BitMEX cryptocurrency exchange – Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo, and Samuel Reed.
The pardons, issued on March 27, 2025, come amid Trump’s increasingly pro-crypto stance and add to the one given to Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht earlier this year.
Trump pardons BitMEX co-founders
According to CNBC, Trump’s latest pardon for a crypto individual is for the BitMEX trio, who faced federal charges in 2020. It included charges of money laundering.
The U.S. Department of Justice had accused the founders of violating the Bank Secrecy Act by knowingly allowing U.S. customers to trade on the platform without adequate anti-money laundering (AML) controls—sometimes requiring little more than an email address to participate.
Despite BitMEX’s public withdrawal from the U.S. market, authorities called the move “a sham,” alleging the platform continued to serve American users covertly.
Samuel Reed pleaded guilty in 2022 and paid a $10 million fine, while the exchange itself faced legal repercussions, pleading guilty in 2025 to Bank Secrecy Act violations and agreeing to a $100 million penalty.
Hayes and Delo also faced charges tied to the platform’s lax oversight, which prosecutors claimed enabled illicit financial activities. Delo surrendered to US authorities in 2021.
As well as the three BitMEX co-founders, Trump also issued another high-profile clemency to Trevor Milton, the founder of electric truck maker Nikola. Milton was convicted of securities fraud.
The decision to pardon the three BitMEX co-founders has seen some crypto commentators and enthusiasts ponder if former Binance founder & CEO Changpeng Zhao could also be considered. CZ, who resigned as Binance CEO in late 2023, served a four-month prison sentence in the US.
Meanwhile, there have been reports that jailed FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has had his people approach Trump for a pardon.
