Bitmex Co-Founder is the Youngest British Self-Made Billionaire

UK media has reported that 34-year-old Ben Delo, the co-founder of Bitmex, has become the youngest British self-made billionaire.

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Bitmex’s Ben Delo is the First British Billionaire From Crypto Industry

According to The Sunday Times, Ben Delo’s college yearbook describes him as having been voted the student most like to become a millionaire, and the student second most likely to end up in prison. UK media is now heralding the Bitmex co-founder as the first Briton to become a billionaire through cryptocurrency, and the youngest British self-made billionaire at just 34.

After studying computer science and mathematics at Worcester College, Oxford, Ben Delo graduated in 2005 with a first-class degree. Mr. Delo then worked with IBM as a software engineer, before later moving to Hong Kong to work for JP Morgan.

Bitmex Rises to Prominence

Bitmex was founded by Ben Delo, Samuel Reed, and Arthur Hayes in 2014. Mr. Delo described the intensive work required to launch the exchange, stating “I have had my nose down in a start-up for the past four years. I was doing 18-hour days at one point.” Mr. Delo also recounted living out of spare bedrooms rented through Airbnb due to the company having such little capital in its early days, in addition to he and his wife regularly eating at McDonald’s. Mr. Delo claims to now maintain a frugal lifestyle, inspired by the likes of Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, and to be a regular donor to various charities.

Bitmix quickly rose to prominence by offering high leverage of cryptocurrency contracts. Due to the significant leverage offered, the exchange is ranked as having the highest trade volume of all cryptocurrency exchanges on Coinmarketcap.

As of this writing, Bitmex boasts an estimated 24-hour trade volume of approximately $2.55 billion – nearly $900 million more than the second largest exchange by 24-hour trade volume, Coinex ($1.66 billion), and over $1.1 billion more than the third largest exchange, Binance ($1.33 billion).

Do you think we will soon see more representatives of the cryptocurrency sector achieve billionaire status? Share your thoughts in the comment section below!

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Bitmex

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