USDBitMEX to Permanently Shut Down After 11 Years
Exchange sets final trading deadline and begins an orderly customer wind-down
TL;DR
- BitMEX will permanently close its crypto derivatives exchange at 04:00 UTC on September 23, 2026.
- New registrations have stopped, while existing customers must close positions and withdraw their assets.
- The closure follows a strategic review by HDR Global Trading Limited’s board.
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BitMEX will permanently shut down its crypto derivatives exchange at 04:00 UTC on September 23, 2026, ending more than 11 years of operations after HDR Global Trading Limited’s board completed a strategic review of the business and the broader cryptocurrency industry. The exchange told customers to close their trading positions and withdraw their assets during a two-month wind-down period.
BitMEX announced the decision on July 23 and immediately stopped accepting new account registrations. The company called the closure a difficult decision and said it was making the announcement “with a very heavy heart.” Existing customers will retain access to trading and withdrawal services during the staged shutdown, subject to restrictions that will tighten as the final closure approaches.
Normal trading will continue until 04:00 UTC on August 26. BitMEX will then prevent customers from opening new positions and place all remaining positions into reduce-only mode. Reduce-only restrictions allow traders to decrease or fully close existing exposure without increasing it. The exchange will progressively force-close positions that remain open as it reduces outstanding market exposure.
Any positions left open when the exchange ceases operations will be force-closed immediately. BitMEX warned that it will not accept responsibility for losses caused by a customer’s inability or failure to close positions before the applicable deadlines. Customers were urged to act early rather than wait until the final days of the wind-down, when transaction volumes, blockchain conditions or operational bottlenecks could delay withdrawals.
Withdrawals to Continue After Trading Ends
Customers will retain access to their accounts after trading operations cease, allowing them to view balances, review transaction histories and withdraw remaining assets. The shutdown deadline therefore ends the exchange’s trading operations but does not immediately terminate customer access to funds held on the platform.
Verified customers who leave assets in their accounts after the closure will face a maintenance charge equal to the greater of a $50 equivalent or 1% annually of the remaining balance, assessed monthly. The annual percentage corresponds to approximately 0.0833% per month, although the fixed minimum could create a higher proportional cost for accounts with smaller balances. BitMEX reserved the right to raise the charge after providing customers with advance notice.
All staked BMEX tokens have already been unstaked and returned to their holders’ accounts. BitMEX also warned that withdrawal processing could be affected by blockchain network conditions and by the capacity of the exchange’s fixed pool of withdrawal addresses.
Bitcoin block confirmations can take up to approximately one hour, according to BitMEX, limiting transaction throughput when many customers attempt to move funds at the same time. The exchange said it does not provide expedited, priority or fast-track withdrawals and warned customers to distrust anyone claiming they can move a transaction ahead of the queue.
BitMEX also cautioned users to expect phishing campaigns and impersonation attempts seeking to exploit confusion surrounding the closure. Customers were advised to be particularly wary of messages offering preferential withdrawal treatment or requesting account credentials.
The exchange said its assets exceed its liabilities, citing its Proof of Reserves and Liabilities page. BitMEX also emphasized that it has lost zero customer funds to hacks throughout its operating history, positioning the closure as an orderly business wind-down rather than a customer-fund shortfall.
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Perpetual Swap Pioneer Exits the Market
Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo and Samuel Reed founded BitMEX in 2014 with the goal of making professional-grade cryptocurrency derivatives available to retail traders. The exchange became closely associated with leveraged crypto trading and helped bring products previously used largely in professional financial markets to a broader customer base.
BitMEX launched its perpetual swap in May 2016, offering a futures-style cryptocurrency derivative without an expiration date and leverage of up to 100 times a trader’s collateral. That leverage level allowed customers to control exposure worth 100 times their posted margin, leaving positions highly sensitive to adverse price movements and potential liquidation.
The perpetual swap became BitMEX’s signature product and was later adopted by thousands of centralized and decentralized trading platforms. BitMEX said perpetual swaps have become the most heavily traded cryptocurrency product category.
Cryptocurrency perpetual-futures trading volume reached approximately $61.7 trillion in 2025, an increase of $13.8 trillion from the previous year. Those figures imply annual volume of about $47.9 trillion in 2024 and growth of roughly 28.8% during the following year.
BitMEX acknowledged the proliferation of rival derivatives venues by encouraging customers to continue trading on “the many excellent platforms that have followed in our footsteps.”
Sale Process and Regulatory History
BitMEX had been seeking a buyer since February 2025, when it retained Broadhaven Capital Partners to manage a potential sale process. The exchange later chose to close following its strategic review.
The company’s later operating history was also shaped by U.S. enforcement over its anti-money-laundering controls and customer-screening practices. BitMEX pleaded guilty in 2024 to violating the Bank Secrecy Act by operating without an adequate anti-money-laundering program.
The exchange received an additional $100 million penalty in January 2025 connected to those violations. The enforcement action concerned compliance controls rather than the loss of customer assets through a hack or insolvency.
U.S. President Donald Trump pardoned Hayes and his co-founders in March 2025, removing the remaining federal criminal consequences attached to the case against them. BitMEX’s subsequent closure ends the operations of an exchange that helped establish perpetual swaps as a central cryptocurrency derivatives product while maintaining its stated record of no customer assets lost to hacks.
This article has been refined and enhanced by ChatGPT.
