Former investor alleges BitMEX sold products in UK despite not being regulated by Financial Conduct Authority

A cryptocurrency exchange founded by the billionaire Reform UK donor Ben Delo is being sued for £20m over claims that the company mis-sold financial products in the UK.

Lewis Barber, who is a software engineer, alleges that BitMEX offered crypto derivative products to investors in the UK, despite not being regulated or approved to do so by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

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© Photograph: Anne Schwarz Photography

© Photograph: Anne Schwarz Photography

© Photograph: Anne Schwarz Photography

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed AB 2409, barring California public officials from issuing memecoins and prohibiting companies from listing memecoins that use a public official's image or likeness. Engadget reports: The governor's office pointed to reports that about a million investors lost an alleged $3.8 billion on their purchases of the memecoin released by President Donald Trump in 2025 as a the motivation behind the new rule. "No official should profit off their office -- and we're putting stronger protections in place to ensure it doesn't happen in our state," Newsom said. The bill also prohibits a company, related or not, from making a memecoin using "the likeness or image" of a public official.

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This concept of financial freedom—not having to trust anyone else—is the logical end point of the belief that the systems of American life cannot be mended, only circumvented. Bitcoin, I was told again and again, was safe wealth specifically because of its distance from central bankers. Though the currency's value was susceptible to the day's memes, it ultimately required confidence only in code. Bitcoiners call this perceived freedom "self-sovereignty," and its emergence as a primary value signals how fully people have lost trust in national institutions.