Arthur Hayes obtained his BA in Economics at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania in 2008. Subsequently he moved to Hong Kong where worked as an equity derivatives trader for Deutsche Bank and Citigroup for 5 years. Arthur was the head ETF market maker at both firms. In January 2014, BitMEX was formed. BitMEX is a Seychelles based P2P cryptocurrency trading platform that gives retail investors access to the global financial markets using cryptocurrency products. BitMEX operates the most liquid Bitcoin / USD trading product, XBTUSD, which features 100x leverage, and volumes on average are over $3 billion per day. On April 6, 2021, Hayes touched down at an airport in Honolulu and surrendered to federal agents on the tarmac. He pleaded guilty to a single charge of violating the Bank Secrecy Act, paid a $10 million fine, and, last summer, began a six-month term of house arrest.