Crypto exchange BitMEX will close down in September, according to a Thursday announcement on the company’s website.
The exchange said that after “a strategic review of the business and the broader crypto industry, the board of HDR Global Trading Limited, owner and operator of BitMEX, has decided to close the exchange.”
BitMEX did not give further information on why the exchange was closing but told users to withdraw their funds “as soon as practical.”
“The BitMEX platform has always remained grounded to the true ethos of Bitcoin — neutrality, transparency, and decentralisation, which is evident through our peer-to-peer operations and a top priority focus on user fund safety,” the statement read.
“While this news is a difficult one to share, we are proud of everything that has been built at the company since its launch as a pioneer of crypto derivatives.”
BitMEX added that users will be able to access services as normal until September 23. After that date, the exchange will only hold client assets until they are withdrawn.
It continued that it had unstaked all staked BMEX Tokens on the platform, and they are now available in users’ accounts.
Run-ins with the law
Run by eccentric crypto entrepreneur Arthur Hayes, BitMEX has had its fair share of run-ins with the law.
Regulators first stated that BitMEX had allowed U.S. clients to use its exchange without verifying their identities.
The company in 2021 paid $100 million in civil penalties after the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network alleged that the exchange’s senior leadership “altered U.S. customer information to hide the customer’s true location.”
BitMEX founders Hayes, Benjamin Delo, and Samuel Reed pled guilty in 2022 to violations of the Bank Secrecy Act for failing to operate an anti-money laundering program at the cryptocurrency exchange. Each founder then agreed to pay a $10 million fine to settle the charges.
Then, last year, BitMEX was hit with a further $100 million fine for its guilty plea for breach of the United States Bank Secrecy Act.
But following the election of crypto-friendly President Donald Trump, all three founders were pardoned in 2025.
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