BitMEX to close after 11 years, ending the exchange that invented the perpetual swap
HDR Global Trading will shut the derivatives venue on 23 September following a strategic review, telling users to withdraw funds before the deadline.
Exchange
BitMEX
The Seychelles-incorporated derivatives exchange that invented the perpetual swap in May 2016, pleaded guilty to a Bank Secrecy Act offence in 2024, and will shut its markets at 04:00 UTC on 23 September 2026 after 11 years.
The profile
Crypto derivatives exchange launched in 2014 by Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo and Samuel Reed, wholly owned and operated by HDR Global Trading Limited, a company incorporated in the Republic of Seychelles. On 13 May 2016 it announced the XBTUSD perpetual swap, a leveraged contract with no expiry held near spot by a funding payment; BitMEX puts its lifetime volume above $3tn and calls it the most traded product in crypto. The CFTC sued the BitMEX entities and their three founders on 1 October 2020, and on 10 August 2021 a federal court ordered a $100m civil penalty, up to $50m of which could be offset against a concurrent FinCEN assessment, for running an unregistered derivatives platform without know-your-customer and anti-money laundering programmes. The founders pleaded guilty to Bank Secrecy Act offences and were sentenced in 2022; HDR itself pleaded guilty on 10 July 2024 to wilfully failing to maintain an AML programme, and was fined $100m and placed on two years' probation on 15 January 2025. On 23 July 2026, after a strategic review, it said the exchange would close at 04:00 UTC on 23 September 2026, halting registrations at once and barring new positions from 26 August.
Products and services
- Perpetual swaps
- Leveraged contracts with no expiry date, held near spot by a funding payment passed between longs and shorts, offered by BitMEX at up to 100x leverage.
- Fixed-date futures
- Contracts on bitcoin and other cryptoassets that settle on a stated date against an index price, rather than rolling on indefinitely like a perpetual.
- Spot pairs
- Direct exchange of cryptoassets for immediate settlement, run alongside the derivatives book so that margin and spot balances sit in one account.
Coverage
Developments in which BitMEX is a named party, newest first.
On the record
BitMEX announces it will cease operations in September
HDR Global Trading said on 23 July 2026 that BitMEX would close at 04:00 UTC on 23 September, following a strategic review, and told users to withdraw funds before the deadline. The venue introduced the perpetual swap in May 2016, the contract design that went on to dominate crypto derivatives trading on centralised and onchain venues alike.
Official
Related
Sources
- BitMEX: BitMEX Exchange to Sunset on 23 September at 04:00 UTC
- CFTC: Federal Court Orders BitMEX to Pay $100 Million for Illegally Operating a Cryptocurrency Trading Platform and Anti-Money Laundering Violations
- US Department of Justice: Global Cryptocurrency Exchange BitMEX Pleads Guilty To Bank Secrecy Act Offense
- US Department of Justice: Global Cryptocurrency Exchange BitMEX Fined $100 Million For Violating The Bank Secrecy Act
- BitMEX: Five Years Ago, the Perpetual Swap Was Born. Everything Changed.