TL:DR;
- Arthur Hayes, born in 1985 in Detroit, Michigan, is an American entrepreneur and a co-founder of the cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX.
- Hayes forged a commendable career in investment banking.
- Despite facing legal challenges, Hayes’s impact on the crypto world remains significant.
Bibliography
Arthur Hayes, born in 1985 in Detroit, Michigan, is an American entrepreneur and a co-founder of the cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX. His journey from the Wharton School of Business to the formation of BitMEX is a fascinating tale of ambition and innovation. Hayes forged a commendable career in investment banking.
2008-2013
Hayes graduated from the Wharton School of Business in 2008. His early career took him to Hong Kong, where he embarked on his investment banking journey. At Deutsche Bank, he worked as an equity derivatives trader from 2008 to 2011.
Later, he joined Citigroup, where he served as the head ETF market maker for both firms. In 2011, he transitioned to a Delta one trader role at Citibank in Hong Kong. Unfortunately, in 2013, he faced a layoff.
2014-2019
In 2014, Hayes co-founded BitMEX alongside Ben Delo and Samuel Reed. BitMEX swiftly rose to prominence as one of the world’s largest virtual currency derivatives exchanges. Its average daily trading volume exceeded $2 billion in 2021. Hayes’s entrepreneurial spirit and strategic vision played a pivotal role in BitMEX’s success.
Notably, he made a $2.24 million charitable contribution to the Jackie Robinson Foundation Scholars program in March 2019. This generous gift remains the largest-ever donation by an alumnus of the program.
2019-2023
In 2019, allegations were brought against BitMEX, that it was involved in illegal activities, leading to the indictment of Hayes and his co-founders in October 2020. He was sentenced to two years of probation and six months of home detention by a federal courthouse in New York in May 2022. Despite this setback, Hayes’s impact on the crypto world remains indelible. He was once hailed as the youngest African American crypto billionaire in history.
Arthur Hayes, once a law-subverting figure, transformed into a crypto commentator. He exposed the failures of controversial crypto projects in 2022. Hayes now fearlessly tackles tough questions, making him a resilient character in the crypto realm.
