Alexander Höptner, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of cryptocurrency derivative exchange BitMEX has reportedly stepped down from his role in the company.
Höptner Quits CEO Position
According to a Tuesday report, Höptner has already been replaced by Stephan Lutz, who will serve as BitMEX’s CEO in the interim.
“Stephan Lutz has been appointed as interim CEO of BitMEX after Alexander Höptner has left our business with immediate effect,” the company’s spokesperson said.
Höptner was named BitMEX CEO in December 2020. Thus, his resignation comes less than two years after he took over the role from Vivien Khoo. Khoo served as interim CEO two months after Arthur Hayes stepped down from the position in October 2020.
At the time, Coinfomania reported that Hayes had to step down following lawsuits from the US Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for the part he allegedly played in some regulations that BitMEX violated.
According to the CFTC, BitMEX violated the regulatory body’s rules by operating an unregulated exchange and also failing to implement mandatory anti-money laundering (AML) know-your-customer (KYC) requirements for US traders. The CFTC claimed that Hayes was involved in these violations via the role he played in setting up different firms that operated the crypto exchange.
Crypto CEOs Quitting Roles
Meanwhile, this year has no doubt seen a significant number of top-level executives of crypto companies step down from their position.
In August, Michael Moro quit his role as CEO of crypto brokerage firm Genesis.
Last month, Jesse Powell, stepped down from his position as the CEO of the crypto exchange Kraken, after holding the position for more than 10 years. Powell noted that he gave up the role to spend more time on activities he enjoys doing.
A few days later, Alex Mashinsky, also stepped down from his duties as CEO of bankrupt crypto lender, Celsius Network.
Earlier this month, Gavin Wood resigned as CEO of blockchain software development company, Parity Technologies. Wood stated that he quit being CEO because it’s not a role he desires and that it would not bring him everlasting happiness.
