Must-reads for Nov. 12, 2018: BitMEX pushes back, Galaxy’s lost in space, and CFTC punishes fraud

BitMEX CEO defends the billion-dollar crypto exchange: ‘We don’t trade against customers’ (Yahoo Finance UK)
Arthur Hayes, CEO of BitMEX, is countering allegations the world’s largest crypto futures exchange is trading against customers, giving preferential access to favored customers when servers go down, and makes money with its insurance fund (which appears as an asset on its balance sheet). He claims their trading desk is treated like any other customer, that BitMEX is working on its server problems, and that the insurance fund—which hasn’t been used in nearly two years—still serves to benefit its customers in times of volatility.

Execs are fleeing Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital as the firm makes a big pivot towards Wall Street (The Block)
Several top executives have left Galaxy Digital in the past few months, including two on Friday. According to Mike Novogratz, it’s because the firm is pivoting away from ICO advisory and toward institutional. Er… Okay.

CFTC Fines Bitcoin Trader $1.1 Million for Crypto Fraud (CoinDesk)
In an industry that exhibits a lot of chutzpah, Joseph Kim should get an award. According to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Kim transferred more than $600,000 worth of crypto from his employer into his personal account. He was subsequently fired (obviously). “But Kim didn’t stop there. He then started soliciting funds from individual customers, apparently to continue trading in crypto with the hope of making profits to repay his ex-employer. As a result, he fraudulently obtained approximately $545,000 from at least five customers between December and March 2018,” writes CoinDesk’s Yogita Khatri. Kim was sentenced to 15 months in the slammer, got a hefty fine, and is banned from trading again—including with crypto.

EOS ‘Reverses’ Previously-Confirmed Transactions as Pundits Decry Centralization (CoinTelegraph)
Is EOS decentralized (as they positioned themselves) or not? A recent reversal of a transaction—after it was confirmed—has led to a lot of griping on Reddit, where just about anything anyone does results in griping.