BitMEX explored a sale for two years before closing, as founder control, falling volume, and legal baggage deterred buyers. The exchange will shut Sept. 23 after an 11-year run.
BitMEX spent roughly two years looking for a buyer before its parent company approved a shutdown, CoinDesk reported, citing a person familiar with the private discussions. The exchange failed to reach a deal with any of several potential acquirers, including rival crypto platforms and Exodus, a payments and wallet company.
Broadhaven Capital Partners advised the Seychelles-based exchange during the process. crypto.news first reported the sale search in February 2025, with Broadhaven joining in late 2024. BitMEX wanted a valuation near $1 billion. It is not clear whether any interested party submitted a formal bid.
The sale attempt ended without agreement before HDR Global Trading, BitMEX's parent, completed a strategic review and approved the closure.
Founder control complicated the process. Co-founders Arthur Hayes, Ben Delo, and Samuel Reed left management after U.S. authorities filed criminal charges in 2020. They still held a large majority of the company's equity. One prospective buyer was concerned about that structure, the source said. Acquirers typically reserve part of the deal's consideration for current managers to keep them on board. That was harder to arrange at BitMEX because the founders were major owners who no longer ran the exchange.
BitMEX also went through a management overhaul while the sale talks were active. The company replaced CEO Stephan Lutz with CFO Ina Steiner, growth chief Raphael Polansky left, and former COO Peter Wilkinson became CEO.
Trading activity declined while the sale discussions ran. Monthly futures volume exceeded $100 billion in parts of 2021 but fell to between $25 billion and $30 billion by late 2024, per figures The Block reported. The falling business made buyers reluctant to pay a revenue multiple typical for a growing platform, CoinDesk's source said.
Volume migrated to larger centralized exchanges and decentralized perpetual platforms. Hyperliquid did about $2.6 trillion in notional volume during 2025, nearly double Coinbase's $1.4 trillion, according to Artemis data.
The shift carries a certain irony. BitMEX helped popularize perpetual swaps with its XBTUSD contract in 2016. The product lets traders take leveraged positions without an expiry date and uses funding payments to keep contract prices close to the spot market.
Regulatory baggage created another hurdle. BitMEX pleaded guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act after authorities said it ran without an adequate anti-money laundering program. The co-founders also pleaded guilty and later received presidential pardons in 2025.
BitMEX now faces a proposed U.S. class action that says it profited from forced customer liquidations. The plaintiffs seek the return of 622.66 BTC plus damages. The claims are allegations and have not been proven.
The exchange will move into reduce-only mode on Aug. 26, blocking new positions. It will close on Sept. 23, ending an 11-year run. Customers have been told to close positions and withdraw assets before operations end.
The failure to sell and the shutdown mark a stark end for a platform that invented the derivative product now powering much of crypto trading. The lessons for the wider market lie in what buyers found unattractive: founder control without operational involvement, shrinking volumes, and a long regulatory shadow.
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