BitMEX to Close on September 23, Halts New Sign-Ups

BitMEX, one of crypto’s oldest derivatives venues, is shutting down.

The platform will cease operations on September 23 at 04:00 UTC, its operator, HDR Global Trading, said Thursday, pinning the decision on a “strategic review of the business and the broader industry.” New account sign-ups have already been halted. The move, BitMEX said, “comes with a heavy heart.”

Users have two months to get out. Trading continues as normal until August 26, when BitMEX will bar new positions and let traders only reduce existing ones. From there it will force-close open positions to wind the market down in an orderly fashion, and any left open at the deadline will be closed automatically. Even after the shutdown, the company said, users can still log in to withdraw balances—though those who leave funds parked will eventually be charged a monthly account fee.

Founded in 2014 by Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo, and Samuel Reed, BitMEX built a template much of the industry still runs on. In May 2016 it launched the perpetual swap—a no-expiry futures contract offering up to 100x leverage. Crypto perps have since gone on to reach volumes of $61.7 trillion in 2025, per CryptoQuant, up $13.8 trillion on the previous year. BitMEX noted it had gone more than 11 years without losing user funds to a hack—a pointed claim in a year defined by nine-figure exploits.

Its later history was rockier. BitMEX pleaded guilty in 2024 to violating the Bank Secrecy Act over lax anti-money-laundering controls, and paid $100 million in penalties. In March 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump pardoned Hayes and his co-founders, wiping out the criminal case that had shadowed the exchange for years. BitMEX told users to trade on “the many excellent platforms that have followed in our footsteps.”