Trump grants pardons to Bitmex founder and crypto icon Ross Ulbricht - another step in the former president's controversial foreign policy.

Trump grants pardons to Bitmex founder and crypto icon Ross Ulbricht - another step in the former president's controversial foreign policy.

Trump Overturns Convictions of BitMEX Founders: A Look at the Background and Impact

According to CNBC, Donald Trump has overturned the federal convictions of Arthur Hayes, BenjAmin Delo and Samuel Reed, former executives of the BitMEX platform. This decision came just months after a $100 million monetary penalty imposed for violations of U.S. law. The pardons were confirmed by the White House on Thursday.

Arthur Hayes, the former CEO of BitMEX, was previously sentenced to six months of house arrest and two years of probation. BenjAmin Delo, who served as chief operating officer and strategy officer, received 30 months probation, while Samuel Reed, the chief technology officer, received 18 months probation. Together, the three also faced $30 million in civil penalties.

Federal authorities had already stated that BitMEX operators operated their platform like a money laundering operation. US users were allowed to trade on the exchange despite authorities warning that this would violate legal regulations. The platform lacked crucial identity verification (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) systems and ignored banking secrecy requirements, which require the identification and monitoring of suspicious activity.

The three men confessed in US District Court in Manhattan that they had maintained inadequate controls over the platform. The court accepted their pleas and allowed them to avoid criminal detention. The Justice Department found that their actions enabled years of unmonitored financial activity that could have supported criminal transactions.

Pardons for Trevor Milton and Ross Ulbricht

The pardons of Hayes, Delo and Reed were part of a broader series of actions Trump took this week. It was also announced Thursday evening that Trevor Milton, the founder and former CEO of electric vehicle startup Nikola, was pardoned by Trump. Milton had been convicted of securities fraud and received a four-year prison sentence, but had not yet begun his sentence because his case was still pending.

Previously, Trump also pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the dark web marketplace Silk Road, who used Bitcoin to trade illegal drugs and other illicit goods. Trump personally addressed Ulbricht's mother to deliver the news of his pardon. Ulbricht was sentenced in 2015 to two life sentences plus 40 years without parole for conspiracy in connection with drug trafficking, money laundering and hacking. Prosecutors had noted that Silk Road processed over $200 million in illegal transactions before the platform was shut down in 2013. It was also alleged that Ulbricht tried to order contract killings to silence witnesses.

Trump defended his pardon decisions in a social media post, calling critics "scum" who wanted to convict him. The discussion of these pardons raises questions about the responsibilities of leaders in the cryptocurrency industry and highlights the ongoing challenges of regulation and oversight in a rapidly evolving market.