Ben Delo

Ben Delo holds a highly rigorous academic background, having graduated from the University of Oxford with a double first-class honors degree in Mathematics and Computer Science. Before BitMEX, he built high-frequency trading systems and complex financial software for massive institutions like IBM and J.P. Morgan. This elite background in quantitative finance and highly optimized trading architecture allowed him to successfully invent and execute the complex mathematics behind the perpetual swap.

Ben Delo is a British mathematician, computer programmer, and the billionaire co-founder of the cryptocurrency derivatives exchange BitMEX. Co-founding the platform in 2014 with Arthur Hayes and Samuel Reed, Delo served as the primary architect behind BitMEX's revolutionary financial products. Most notably, he designed the 'perpetual swap' contract, an incredibly lucrative, never-expiring derivative that allowed traders to massively leverage their positions. This single innovation fundamentally transformed the global cryptocurrency market, generating billions in trading volume and making Delo the UK's youngest self-made billionaire. Along with Hayes, Delo eventually faced severe legal repercussions from the US Department of Justice for failing to establish adequate anti-money laundering protocols, resulting in a guilty plea and massive financial penalties.