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.
What happened
BitMEX announced on 23 July that the exchange will cease operations at 04:00 UTC on 23 September 2026. Its owner and operator, HDR Global Trading Limited, said the decision followed a strategic review of the business. Users must withdraw funds before the deadline, and open positions will be closed by that date. The exchange says its proof of reserves shows platform liabilities fully covered by customer assets and points to a record without a platform hack across its 11 years.
Why it matters
BitMEX introduced the 100x perpetual swap, the contract design that came to dominate crypto derivatives trading across every major venue, centralised and onchain. Its closure is the clearest marker yet of consolidation among centralised derivatives exchanges as liquidity has concentrated on larger rivals and migrated to onchain venues.
What is not settled
The company attributes the closure to a strategic review and does not give competitive reasons; the framing of lost market share comes from press reporting rather than the announcement. What happens to balances left after the deadline is described in coverage as monthly maintenance fees or an annualised levy, and the treatment of the brand and any remaining business lines is not stated.
Institutions in this story
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BitMEX
Exchange
Announced on 23 July 2026 that it will close at 04:00 UTC on 23 September, 11 years after launch and a decade after it introduced the perpetual swap that every major derivatives venue now lists in some form.
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Commodity Futures Trading Commission
Regulator
Sued the BitMEX entities and their three founders in October 2020; the $100m civil penalty a federal court ordered in August 2021 is the record against which the closure notice's account of the exchange's history should be read.
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.