Arthur Hayes-founded crypto exchange BitMEX is closing down

[SatsPH]

https://www.bitmex.com/blog/bitmex-closure

So it's a end of era. For those who are customers of BitMEX, for sure you are surprised by this news.

Perhaps it was due to regulations that Arthur Hayes decided to shut it down for good after over 11 years.

[Oshosondy]

On the announcement, I saw that Bitmex said they remained true to the ethos of bitcoin - neutrality, transparency and decentralization.

I have used Bitmex before, it is a centralized exchange and not a decentralized exchange.

Perhaps it was due to regulations that Arthur Hayes decided to shut it down for good after over 11 years.

I did not see anywhere that regulations is the reason for the exchange shutting down, it is because of other reasons which is more about competition from other exchanges.

I am not surprised by this. I used the exchange in 2023, I did not like it. They supposed to have been like other international standard exchanges, but there is something they are not getting right.

[noorman0]

My attention is drawn to:

And we continue to take pride in our robust security posture, which, unlike many of our peers, has resulted in BitMEX experiencing zero funds lost to hacks during its entire operating history of over 11 years.

Don't know how big they used to be, whether they have been hacked or not is a different matter to conclude "we are the safest". If they truly proven, their security team might be coveted by competitors.

[CryptoHeadlineNews]

It's just a sad news that a very popular and pioneer crypto exchange such as BitMEX have to suddenly close down unexpectedly in this manner. And judging from Mr. Arthur's statement, who happens to be the founder, it is obvious this could be as a result of regulatory policies and a strong competition now in the crypto exchange industry. Because I could remember back in 2020 when this exchange was charged for violating Anti-Money Laundering, which seems to have been the genesis of their problem. But shutting down is definitely not the only solution to this case. Because to me, I think one of the mistake BitMEX did was focusing only on crypto derivatives, margin trading, spot trading, but never considered implementing p2p on its platform, which was the strategy Binance used by integrating the currency of most popular countries for trade on it's p2p. However, announcing this 60 days before the exchange shutdown was a brilliant idea, as people will be able to have a enough time to transfer all their funds.

[Karl_3000]

People that did not sell their Bitmex token on time will be losing by now, the price of the token has fallen significantly from $0.06 to $0.005. That is a massive fall in a way that someone having $100 of the token will be having $10 now after the fall. I do not think I can trust any other coin than bitcoin.

[Webutxo]

There is no way Bitmex will be functioning well while Arthur Hayes remain the founder of the exchange because he does is lie and lie. I have seen his several positions about tokens he predicted and they do the opposite. It would make sense if he entrusted the exchange and partners with other companies to restore the exchange instead of closed down but it's better. He might have tried to bring back the exchange but probably people are not interested in the partnership because of his dishonesty.

People that did not sell their Bitmex token on time will be losing by now, the price of the token has fallen significantly from $0.06 to $0.005. That is a massive fall in a way that someone having $100 of the token will be having $10 now after the fall. I do not think I can trust any other coin than bitcoin.

The token was already dead, there was no volume and it was only listed on two exchange, the Bitmex exchange and Gate exchange. Despite the sell off, the volume traded since this news was announced is less than $200k, that means the token is a dead token, the team most have sold and dump everything, now the market cap is below $500k, they know it's dead all this wile.

[MarryWithBTC]

Perhaps it was due to regulations that Arthur Hayes decided to shut it down for good after over 11 years.

This is just an assumption from you. They were cool to tell us that they didn't decide to wind up because of hack or theft, they would have also stated the reason they now decided to stop operation.
Regulations that have not affected them for 11 years, how come it kicks in now.

My attention is drawn to:

And we continue to take pride in our robust security posture, which, unlike many of our peers, has resulted in BitMEX experiencing zero funds lost to hacks during its entire operating history of over 11 years.

Don't know how big they used to be, whether they have been hacked or not is a different matter to conclude "we are the safest". If they truly proven, their security team might be coveted by competitors.

Exactly my thought. Competitors will definitely come for them because they actually did some great works. But they will have to know the real reason for the wind up before hiring them.

People that did not sell their Bitmex token on time will be losing by now, the price of the token has fallen significantly from $0.06 to $0.005. That is a massive fall in a way that someone having $100 of the token will be having $10 now after the fall. I do not think I can trust any other coin than bitcoin.

This is a great fall and it is disheartening.
But for whatever reason, the Bitmex token cannot be compared to bitcoin.

[Bitcoin_Arena]

I did not see anywhere that regulations is the reason for the exchange shutting down, it is because of other reasons which is more about competition from other exchanges.

The regulations definitely led to its downfall. Right before that, mandatory KYC started, and they were fined with their then-CEO getting jailed, the exchange was quite popular among people who traded perps.

If I am not wrong, it was the first exchange to start offering Bitcoin-related perps.

[IjawMan]

It's just a sad news that a very popular and pioneer crypto exchange such as BitMEX have to suddenly close down unexpectedly in this manner. And judging from Mr. Arthur's statement, who happens to be the founder, it is obvious this could be as a result of regulatory policies and a strong competition now in the crypto exchange industry. Because I could remember back in 2020 when this exchange was charged for violating Anti-Money Laundering, which seems to have been the genesis of their problem. But shutting down is definitely not the only solution to this case. Because to me, I think one of the mistake BitMEX did was focusing only on crypto derivatives, margin trading, spot trading, but never considered implementing p2p on its platform, which was the strategy Binance used by integrating the currency of most popular countries for trade on it's p2p. However, announcing this 60 days before the exchange shutdown was a brilliant idea, as people will be able to have a enough time to transfer all their funds.

The pressure to this shutdown by BitMEX has more to do with their inability to keep pace with the rising competition that other exchanges were coming into the market with.

At times it the failure of a platform to recognise the emerging needs of the present market and provide adaptable solutions to those needs. From BitMEX released statement about their shutting down I can smell it that they lost the market to new exchanges as a result of this shortsightedness, other reasons are secondary.

Sadly it is a different story for BitMEX that, while the rest centralised exchanges went down dew to security breach, theirs can counted for a lack of adaptation to present reality.

[boyptc]

There's no exchange now that's too big to fail. Bitmex is one of the known exchanges before when the headlines from the crypto media always publishes about the longs, shorts and liquidations.

Perhaps it was due to regulations that Arthur Hayes decided to shut it down for good after over 11 years.

It's also possible about the tough competition in the industry of crypto exchanges.

I think most users aren't going anywhere anymore. There have been a standing leader and giant of this competitive industry and they're having time to cope against them.

[OmegaStarScream]

I was afraid this would be another AscendEx (which by the way, still have not announced anything about the withdrawal process) after I saw the news. I'm glad it's not but it looks like the exchange is now facing an class-action suit for theft and insider trading:

https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/07/24/bitmex-faces-proposed-class-action-suit-for-theft-insider-trading-as-crypto-exchange-shuts-down

[eaLiTy]

I did not see anywhere that regulations is the reason for the exchange shutting down, it is because of other reasons which is more about competition from other exchanges.

The regulations definitely led to its downfall. Right before that, mandatory KYC started, and they were fined with their then-CEO getting jailed, the exchange was quite popular among people who traded perps.

Yes, the founders paid hundreds of millions of dollars in fines as part of the DOJ investigation in the US. I am not sure whether they spent time in prison, since they eventually received a presidential pardon.

If I am not wrong, it was the first exchange to start offering Bitcoin-related perps.

Yes, they introduced 100x leverage perpetual swaps to the crypto community.
BitMEX is the only crypto exchange that operated for over a decade and can claim that zero customer funds were ever lost to a hack.

They tried to find a suitable buyer to acquire the platform last year but failed, and maybe that is the reason they decided to close down the exchange completely.

I was afraid this would be another AscendEx (which by the way, still have not announced anything about the withdrawal process) after I saw the news. I'm glad it's not but it looks like the exchange is now facing an class-action suit for theft and insider trading:

https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/07/24/bitmex-faces-proposed-class-action-suit-for-theft-insider-trading-as-crypto-exchange-shuts-down

They actually had severe infrastructure issues during major market movements. The server would routinely freeze, failing to provide users with enough time to manage their positions and ultimately liquidating them once the platform was back online. Maybe that is why private plaintiffs are suing them over this exact issue.

[Bitcoin_Arena]

The regulations definitely led to its downfall. Right before that, mandatory KYC started, and they were fined with their then-CEO getting jailed, the exchange was quite popular among people who traded perps.

Yes, the founders paid hundreds of millions of dollars in fines as part of the DOJ investigation in the US. I am not sure whether they spent time in prison, since they eventually received a presidential pardon.

My bad, It was actually more of home detention for about 6 months with some fines.

[Natalim]

I know Arthur Hayes is one of the most popular figures in the crypto space, but I have never used his exchange.

It also seems that the exchange is no longer doing well, especially when we look at how the token has fallen, as shared by @Karl_3000.

I think the token reflects the condition of the exchange, similar to how BNB is connected to Binance. So far, BNB is still the only exchange token I really trust because I am a regular Binance user.

That is why this news is not very surprising to me. Still, it is something worth knowing and discussing.

[Antotena]

I know Arthur Hayes is one of the most popular figures in the crypto space, but I have never used his exchange.

It also seems that the exchange is no longer doing well, especially when we look at how the token has fallen, as shared by @Karl_3000.

I think the token reflects the condition of the exchange, similar to how BNB is connected to Binance. So far, BNB is still the only exchange token I really trust because I am a regular Binance user.

That is why this news is not very surprising to me. Still, it is something worth knowing and discussing.

He was relevant in his early days but I don't think he hold any stake right now in crypto space. He is now more of a trader shilling coins on Hyperliquid. You know what is shocking about that coin, according to bubble map, more than 75% of the coin reserve for the employees where never touch. https://x.com/bubblemaps/status/2080322988420059310, the team didn't sell those tokens. I don't know what is so bad why and how they were able to dump the coin, like some exchanges token that don't have users have better performance than their coin.

He is better off without the exchange, they started the journey of futures trading but today, almost all the exchanges are doing well than them. They deserve the credit but they are better than this back and forth they are doing with the government and court cases, the revenue may not be enough for what this thier cases.

[Taskford]

I was afraid this would be another AscendEx (which by the way, still have not announced anything about the withdrawal process) after I saw the news. I'm glad it's not but it looks like the exchange is now facing an class-action suit for theft and insider trading:

https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/07/24/bitmex-faces-proposed-class-action-suit-for-theft-insider-trading-as-crypto-exchange-shuts-down

Definitely people would really worry seeing their current situation now, but I think they won't do the same action as what AscendEx did.

Until they are not guilty of any case filed against them, I think that cases does not prove anything for now.

What good to look at is their decision to shutdown their business seems or look structed and they didn't do an sudden rug pull. But still that situation happened with this or even those big exchange experience those serious issues reminds us that we should never keep our funds on CEX.

[Orpichukwu]

I think the token reflects the condition of the exchange, similar to how BNB is connected to Binance. So far, BNB is still the only exchange token I really trust because I am a regular Binance user.

One thing that's made BNB as successful as it is today is not just because it's linked to Binance alone but because it's used to settle transaction fees on the BSC network. It's not just a native token to the exchange; the demand for it is high compared to other exchange tokens out there.

And again, we have exchanges which have their own tokens, both DEX and CEX, whose tokens have once seen the light of day but are no longer valuable, and yet the exchanges are still standing. Tokens like HTX for the Huobi exchange and PROB for the ProBit exchange, both centralised exchanges, are still active, but their tokens don't have as much value as they used to, with PROB down by more than 80% from its all-time high, and there is no sign it will get back up, and for DEX, we have SUSHI, the native token for SushiSwap. Those who are familiar with the DEX should be aware of it.

My point is you don't need to rate exchange performance based on their token value; some of those exchanges don't know how to attract demand to their native token.