BitMEX to Shut Down on September 23; Was an Early Crypto Derivatives Exchange
2026-07-23 19:42
Odaily Planet Daily News: Crypto derivatives exchange BitMEX has announced it will shut down, with trading scheduled to conclude on September 23. Founded in 2014 by Arthur Hayes, Ben Delo, and Samuel Reed, BitMEX made the decision after a strategic review by its parent company, HDR Global Trading.
BitMEX played a pioneering role in making perpetual contracts a key product in digital asset derivatives trading. Data from CryptoQuant shows that its Bitcoin futures daily trading volume began to decline around May 2021 and has failed to recover to its peak daily range of $1 billion to $5 billion seen in 2020.
Restructuring advisor Roshan Dharia stated that mid-tier centralized exchanges face structural pressures, with liquidity increasingly concentrating on larger platforms and compliance costs rising. He noted that the top five platforms are currently estimated to control 80% of global spot trading volume, while mid-tier and regional exchanges are seeing narrowing profit margins and lack clear paths to scale.
According to CoinGecko data, BitMEX ranked ninth among derivatives exchanges in August 2023, holding a 0.9% market share. By 2025, it was no longer among the top ten perpetual contract exchanges. Over the same period, these platforms saw their annual perpetual contract trading volume grow by 47.4%, reaching $86.2 trillion.
BitMEX played a pioneering role in making perpetual contracts a key product in digital asset derivatives trading. Data from CryptoQuant shows that its Bitcoin futures daily trading volume began to decline around May 2021 and has failed to recover to its peak daily range of $1 billion to $5 billion seen in 2020.
Restructuring advisor Roshan Dharia stated that mid-tier centralized exchanges face structural pressures, with liquidity increasingly concentrating on larger platforms and compliance costs rising. He noted that the top five platforms are currently estimated to control 80% of global spot trading volume, while mid-tier and regional exchanges are seeing narrowing profit margins and lack clear paths to scale.
According to CoinGecko data, BitMEX ranked ninth among derivatives exchanges in August 2023, holding a 0.9% market share. By 2025, it was no longer among the top ten perpetual contract exchanges. Over the same period, these platforms saw their annual perpetual contract trading volume grow by 47.4%, reaching $86.2 trillion.
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