Ben Delo
Ben Delo (born 1984) is a British fintech entrepreneur, mathematician and philanthropist best known as a co-founder of the cryptocurrency derivatives exchange BitMEX, where he invented the perpetual swap, a financial instrument that became widely used across crypto markets.[1][2]
Early Life and Education
Delo was born in Sheffield in 1984 to a civil engineer father and a schoolteacher mother, according to a biography from his foundation. He spent his childhood moving between a succession of primary schools, and at the age of 11 he was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome.[1][2] He attended Lord Williams's School, a state secondary comprehensive in Thame, Oxfordshire, which he attended between 1995 and 2002. [3][2]
He went on to study mathematics and computer science at Worcester College, University of Oxford, from 2002 to 2005, graduating with a double first-class honours degree.[1][3] In October 2003 he received a Prize for Outstanding Academic Excellence, issued by the Provost of Worcester College.[3]
Career
Early Technology and Finance Roles
Delo began his career in 2005 as a software engineer at IBM, based in Hursley, where he worked on technologies and financial systems including online trading, cybersecurity, analytics and data protection.[3][1] During his early career he was granted patents for several technologies he invented, including software to automatically repair internet links to material that had been archived or moved, which his foundation characterises as an industry first developed while he was at IBM.[1][2]
He subsequently moved into quantitative finance, working as an analyst at the hedge fund GSA Capital in London from 2007 to 2010 and as a front office developer at the brokerage Peel Hunt from 2010 to 2012, developing high-frequency trading systems.[3][1] In 2012 he moved to Hong Kong to work for J.P. Morgan as a vice president, a role he held until 2015.[3][2]
BitMEX
In 2014 Delo co-founded BitMEX, an online cryptocurrency derivatives platform. He built the company between 2014 and 2019, and its foundation says that at its peak the exchange handled more than one trillion dollars in trading volume annually — a figure the foundation compares to being roughly equivalent to the entire Canadian stock market.[2][1]
At BitMEX Delo invented the perpetual swap, a derivatives contract without an expiry date. [1][2] Delo has himself repeatedly claimed authorship of the product, writing in 2025 that he was "very proud to have invented the perpetual swap at ," describing it as "a financial innovation that transformed crypto and now being adopted by Wall Street."[4]
Conviction and Pardon
In 2022 Delo was convicted in the United States for failing to implement adequate anti-money laundering controls at BitMEX. He was sentenced to 30 months of probation and fined $10 million (£7.3 million) for violating the US Bank Secrecy Act.[1] He was subsequently pardoned by US President Donald Trump.[1]
Political Donations and Views
Having moved back to the United Kingdom in recent years, Delo broadened his philanthropy to initiatives concerning national renewal. He has said he believes "Britain is a great nation that has been badly let down by its governing classes over recent decades" and has expressed concern that without radical action the country could fall into "a doom loop of economic stagnation, social fracture and self-doubt."[1]
Delo donated a reported £36 million to Reform UK, which the BBC described as the largest donation ever given to a UK political party. His gift prompted the Reform backer Christopher Harborne to match the sum.[1] His support for free-speech causes has also drawn press coverage, including a December 2025 Sunday Telegraph article describing him as "the British crypto billionaire funding free speech battles against the police."[4]
