Bitcoin Daily: BitMEX Execs Charged With Violating Bank Secrecy Act; Talent Network Braintrust Lands $18M For DeFi Approach To Freelancing

BitMEX’s founders and its first employee were charged with contravening the Bank Secrecy Act and conspiring to violate the act, according to a Thursday (Oct. 1) press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

The DOJ said BitMEX long handled and sought business from U.S. traders. It said that the company was mandated to register the Commodity Futures Trading Commission as well as create and keep an “adequate” anti-money laundering (AML) effort, according to the release.

However, the DOJ contended that the individuals “knew by no later than in or about September 2015 that because BitMEX served U.S. customers, it was required to implement an AML program that included a ‘know your customer’ or ‘KYC’ component but chose to flout those requirements,” the release stated.

One of the indicted individuals was arrested in the United States, while the others have not been found, according to the release.

“With the opportunities and advantages of operating a financial institution in the United States comes the obligation for those businesses to do their part to help in driving out crime and corruption,” Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said in the release.

In other news, technical and design talent network Braintrust has landed $18 million in a strategic growth round only three months after leaving stealth in the summer, according to a Thursday (Oct. 1) announcement.

“Braintrust’s model connects technical talent with organizations needing projects completed, which are traditionally done in-house at a high cost, with fees eliminated for workers and minimized for clients,” according to the announcement.

The firm said its platform has “thousands” of active workers finishing projects and “many thousands more in its talent vetting pipeline,” according to the release. As it stands, Braintrust is a completely distributed network and is in 15 nations throughout the globe.

Also, Braintrust announced the addition of new large business customers with the inclusion of Stanley Black and Decker, Coursera, World Wide Technology (WWT), Align Technology (Invisalign), Mural and AthenaHealth.