BitMEX, the troubled cryptocurrency exchange that is reportedly looking for a buyer, has cleared out its management team, removing CEO Stephan Lutz, CFO Ina Steiner and head of growth Raphael Polansky, CoinDesk has learned.
The firm’s former global general counsel and chief operating officer, Peter Wilkinson, has taken over as CEO. The measures were highlighted in recent postings on LinkedIn.
Wilkinson, Lutz, Steiner and Polansky did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Crypto exchange and derivatives trading platform BitMEX was co-founded in 2014 by Arthur Hayes, Ben Delo and Samuel Reed. In 2020, BitMEX was alleged to have failed to implement adequate anti-money laundering measures and later pleaded guilty to the charges. Hayes, Delo and Reed resigned shortly after the United States filed criminal charges.
BitMEX is presumably looking to streamline its costs and appear more attractive to potential buyers as an ongoing decline in digital asset prices weighs on the crypto industry.
It was during the last crypto downturn in 2022 that Lutz took over as CEO from Alexander Hoeptner, who became CEO in early 2021 when Hayes and his co-founders stepped down.
The recent crypto winter has seen several crypto and tech companies lay off staff.
