bitmex

The cryptocurrency derivatives platform BitMEX has ceased trading, deposits, and opening new positions, retaining only the withdrawal function. The platform announced on social media platform X that as of this Tuesday at 04:00 UTC, the aforementioned services will no longer be available. Users can still log in and withdraw their balances through the official website, but deposits have been confirmed as impossible. BitMEX was co-founded by Arthur Hayes, Ben Delo, and Samuel Reed in 2014, known for promoting perpetual contracts as mainstream trading tools in the cryptocurrency derivatives market.BitMEX urges customers to withdraw their funds as soon as possible and states that account fees will be charged to users with completed KYC certification who still have a balance, billed monthly, at a standard of 1% annualized on assets or a minimum equivalent of $50, whichever is higher. The company emphasizes that this shutdown does not freeze customer assets, and the withdrawal channel remains open during the liquidation process.BitMEX announced its closure in July this year, following a strategic assessment by its parent company HDR Global Trading, as the exchange's market share in the perpetual contract market it helped create continued to decline. According to research data from CoinDesk, the monthly trading volume of centralized cryptocurrency exchange derivatives reached $3.4 trillion in August, with an annual scale potentially reaching $50 trillion. Previously, BitMart also announced its shutdown in July after nine years of operation due to market conditions.

The liquidator of the bankrupt cryptocurrency lending platform Celsius Network has sued BitMEX, accusing it of fraud and market manipulation during forced liquidations in March 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, seeking the return of 6,360 BTC, equivalent to approximately $495 million at current prices. The lawsuit was filed on September 12 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York by the litigation manager appointed in the Celsius bankruptcy case, Blockchain Recovery Investment Consortium.The defendants include five entities: HDR Global Trading, ABS Global Trading, Shine Effort, 100x Holdings, and HDR Global Services, registered across Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Seychelles, and the United States. Celsius claims it lost 1,325.84 BTC during a liquidation on March 12, 2020, and is seeking to recover debts transferred by the investment fund JST, which lost 5,034.33 BTC the following day. The positions held by both could only be profitable when Bitcoin was rising or stable, and the lawsuit alleges that BitMEX simultaneously controlled the system that decided when customers were liquidated and the insurance fund that profited from the liquidations.The allegations have not yet been verified, and this is the second lawsuit BitMEX has faced since announcing its liquidation in July; the exchange will cease trading on September 23.

According to Decrypt, the latest records from the UK Electoral Commission show that BitMEX co-founder Ben Delo donated £4 million (approximately $5.4 million) to the Reform Party of the UK twice in April this year, bringing his total donations to the party this year to £8 million (approximately $10.8 million), second only to Tether equity investor Christopher Harborne (who has donated a total of £15 million, approximately $20.25 million).These two donations accounted for 75% of the party's total donations for the corresponding quarter and were also the largest two single donations received by any political party in the UK during that quarter. The UK has prohibited political donations in the form of cryptocurrency since March, so all donations were made in cash.It is reported that BitMEX co-founder Ben Delo revealed in April that he had donated $5.4 million (approximately £4 million) to the Reform Party of the UK led by Nigel Farage, with the donations occurring before the new regulation setting a £100,000 cap on donations from overseas expatriates was introduced.

According to Cointelegraph, BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes stated that Bitcoin is expected to reach $1 million before 2030, citing factors such as the bursting of the AI bubble, massive money printing, and the potential implementation of yield curve control by the United States. He believes that $58,000 is likely the bottom for this round, and Bitcoin will experience a volatile upward trend.However, Hayes indicated that his current preference is Ethereum, believing it offers a better risk-reward ratio and is likely to achieve a rapid increase of 3 to 5 times, as Ethereum is the foundational layer of DeFi and is the only major cryptocurrency that has not yet broken through its historical high from 2021. He is more cautious about Hyperliquid, believing that its expectations are already fully reflected in the price, and that funds are better suited for deployment in other altcoin areas.Hayes also mentioned that Trump's influence on cryptocurrency prices is minimal, and that the real determinants of price are monetary authorities like the Federal Reserve. Regarding BitMEX's closure on September 23, he said, "I feel very good," believing that this is a voluntary shutdown according to their own wishes, rather than due to a hacking incident, and stated that operating an exchange without scale advantages is no longer profitable.

According to Cointelegraph, BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes (@CryptoHayes) recently expressed a bullish view on Ethereum, pointing out that ETH had previously been heavily sold off by the market and was almost "forgotten," but its ratio against Bitcoin has recently shown a significant rebound, which he believes is a signal of the market's reawakening.

According to Onchain Lens monitoring, BitMEX has transferred 367.65 bitcoins from its cold wallet to its hot wallet again, amounting to approximately 23.92 million USD at current prices.In the past week, the exchange has conducted similar transfers multiple times, possibly related to handling user withdrawal requests following its closure announcement last month.

According to CoinDesk citing informed sources, the cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX spent two years discussing potential sales with multiple buyers, including competitor exchanges and payment platform Exodus, before announcing its shutdown, but ultimately failed to reach a deal. Informed sources indicated that potential acquirers were deterred mainly by the holding structure led by the company's founder, the ongoing shrinking of the business, and lingering reputation issues.Reports state that the company had hired investment bank Broadhaven to manage the sale process in early 2025. Informed sources said that although co-founders Arthur Hayes, Ben Delo, and Samuel Reed had already exited the business after facing U.S. criminal charges in 2020, the three still controlled the vast majority of the company's equity, which made some buyers uneasy and complicated negotiations, as buyers typically hope to secure management's retention post-transaction through partial acquisition consideration.Additionally, during the sale process, BitMEX continued to lose market share as trading activity flowed to larger centralized exchanges and decentralized perpetual contract platforms, making potential acquirers reluctant to pay the revenue multiples typically offered to growth companies.

According to Onchain Lens monitoring, a newly created wallet withdrew 100 BTC from BitMEX, worth approximately 6.34 million USD;Another wallet associated with the same person received 5.055 BTC, worth approximately 318,500 USD, totaling a withdrawal of 105.055 BTC, worth approximately 6.66 million USD.

According to monitoring by Onchain Lens, a newly created wallet withdrew 468.3 BTC from BitMEX, worth approximately 29.88 million USD. This is the first time a single withdrawal exceeding 10 million USD has occurred since BitMEX announced its closure.

According to Onchain Lens monitoring, BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes (0x6cd...7e21) received 5 million USDC from Galaxy Digital OTC Desk.

Bitcoin News posted on the X platform stating that a lawsuit accuses BitMEX of seizing 622 bitcoins through server freezes and internal trading before its closure.

In response to the shutdown of BitMEX, BitMart, and rumors of several CEXs facing shutdowns, Zhao Changpeng stated, "It's too cruel, I hope this is a bottom signal."

Crypto KOL Phyrex posted on platform X, stating, "BitMart and BitMex did not close due to a collapse; it is very different from the sacrifice of FTX. These two primarily faced business issues."According to him, in 2023, BitMart had approached his associates about an acquisition, and they had done a lot of data analysis at the time, but it ultimately came to nothing. In fact, part of the decline of many third-tier exchanges is due to the impact from Binance Alpha.Small exchanges are essentially the stronghold of various altcoins, pump coins, Ponzi coins, and community coins, but the emergence of Alpha has provided better sources for these coins, which has also led to a significant reduction in listing fees for third-tier exchanges and a decrease in profits from joint market-making.Another reason is the signal teachers. In fact, the total number of signal teachers is not very large, but they have waves of associates. These teachers generally move between various exchanges, and once a new exchange offers better profits, these teachers quickly lead their followers to switch. The recent well-known cases of exchanges running away generally follow this pattern.

On the day BitMEX announced its shutdown, BKX Services Inc. and David Namdar filed a class action lawsuit in the Southern District of New York Federal Court, accusing the platform of manipulating user forced liquidations and stealing Bitcoin collateral by using insider trading privileges and server freezing tactics. The plaintiffs claim a total loss of approximately 623 BTC, with BKX losing at least 305.81 BTC and Namdar losing over 316.85 BTC, seeking the return of Bitcoin and damages.The complaint states that BitMEX allowed clients to use up to 100 times leverage, while forcibly liquidating positions when the collateral value was still about twice the loss, with the remaining Bitcoin being included in the platform's insurance fund, allowing BitMEX to profit from it. This lawsuit traces back to relevant transactions starting from July 23, 2018, while a similar case from 2020 was voluntarily withdrawn on June 30, 2025.

The cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX accelerated the delisting of 65 derivative contracts and spot trading pairs in July, far exceeding the 19 that were delisted in the first six months of this year. The platform attributed the delisting to "insufficient trading interest" and stated that this move is related to its decision to close the exchange. Previously, BitMEX announced that it would officially cease operations on September 23, but did not disclose the specific reason for the closure.Restructuring advisor Roshan Dharia stated that the shutdown of BitMEX reflects the structural pressures faced by mid-sized centralized exchanges: liquidity continues to concentrate on leading platforms, while compliance costs are continuously rising. Earlier, the on-chain analysis platform Bubblemaps revealed that 75% of the total supply of BitMEX tokens BMEX (originally intended for employee incentives, ecosystem growth, and long-term reserves) was never allocated as planned, with the only claim occurring in November 2022. After the shutdown announcement, the price of BMEX dropped by approximately 95%.

On-chain analysis platform Bubblemaps revealed that the ecological token BMEX launched by BitMEX in 2021 had 75% of its supply originally allocated for employee incentives, ecological growth, and long-term reserves never claimed. Data shows that 92% of the supply was initially locked in vesting contracts, while the remaining 8% was distributed at launch (5% for airdrops, 3% for products and liquidity). The only claim occurred on November 2, 2022, when the product and liquidity addresses claimed 63.75 million BMEX, with no claim records from other addresses. Bubblemaps pointed out that the tokenomics or allocation plan may have off-chain adjustments later, but based on the announced plan, the relevant allocations may not have actually been executed.BitMEX announced on July 23 that it would officially cease operations on September 23. The price of BMEX has dropped by about 95% since the shutdown announcement, currently quoted at approximately 0.0052 USDT. It is understood that the official handling of the BMEX token is very limited, with no additional compensation or special arrangements. The only action explicitly mentioned in BitMEX's official shutdown announcement is that the platform has immediately unstaked all staked BMEX and returned it directly to the holders' accounts.

Binance founder Zhao Changpeng paid tribute to BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes. It's unfortunate to see BitMEX shut down. Some thoughts:BitMEX was the first to launch 100x cryptocurrency trading back in 2014. Futures contracts had existed before this, making Friday trading exceptionally busy. BitMEX only accepted Bitcoin deposits, supported only one chain, allowed withdrawals once a day, and required multi-signature wallets. These seemingly inconvenient restrictions actually protected them from hacker attacks.After 18 months of struggle, the four founders ultimately admitted to violating the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) a month before the trial. They were each fined $10 million and placed under house arrest. No one went to prison as a result. However, their business ultimately could not withstand the "cryptocurrency war" initiated by the Biden administration.In the end, the liquidation process of BitMEX appeared orderly, and users were able to withdraw their assets. Tribute to Arthur Hayes.