BitMEX crypto exchange shuts down September 23 after 11 years regulatory penalties failed sale
BitMEX, one of crypto's oldest exchanges, is shutting down for good on September 23 after 11 years, its board said following a strategic review. The exchange invented the 100x leverage perpetual swap product now standard across crypto trading. It faced more than $200 million in U
BitMEX, one of the oldest cryptocurrency exchanges and the platform credited with inventing the 100x leverage perpetual swap contract that is now a standard product across the crypto industry, announced it will permanently shut down operations on September 23, 2026. Owner HDR Global Trading Limited said its board made the decision following a strategic review of the business and the broader crypto industry, and the exchange has already stopped accepting new account registrations. The closure follows more than $200 million in combined US regulatory penalties against the exchange, and a sale process that failed to find a buyer despite reported interest valuing the business at roughly $1 billion. HDR Global had engaged boutique investment bank Broadhaven Capital Partners in late 2024 to run that process. BitMEX's three co-founders, Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo and Samuel Reed, pleaded guilty in 2022 to violating US anti-money laundering rules and were pardoned last year. Despite the shutdown, BitMEX says it never lost customer funds to a hack in its entire 11-plus year history, a distinction few exchanges of its age and size can claim. Its closure marks the end of one of the platforms that defined early crypto derivatives trading, at a time the broader industry has struggled with falling prices and declining retail trading volume.