Cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX has stopped accepting new registrants as it prepares to close its operations.
The company, whose founders were the recipients of a White House pardon last year, announced the closure on its website Thursday (July 20), urging customers to withdraw their funds from the platform before the Sept. 23 shutdown.
“Following 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,” the announcement said. “This comes with a heavy heart for all of us at the company and has not been taken lightly.”
Launched in 2014, BitMEX bills itself as the creator of the 100x leverage perpetual swap, which it calls the crypto industry’s most raided product. It also praised its “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.”
The news comes on the heels of an announcement Wednesday (July 22) from cryptocurrency wallet SecondFi that it would shut down following an attack that stole $2.4 million from its users.
A report on the BitMEX shutdown by Reuters notes that it is happening as the price of cryptocurrency is flagging. Bitcoin, the most popular crypto, has given up most of its gains from last year.
“The cryptocurrency exchange market is highly competitive, and the closure of BitMEX may suggest that major exchanges will continue to gain significant weight at the expense of smaller or newer exchanges,” said Thomas Probst, a research analyst at Kaiko, per Reuters.
However, he added that the BitMEX’s demise would have limited effect on the market, as the exchange has a market share of less than 0.01%
BitMEX’s co-founders pleaded guilty in 2022 to failing to establish compliant anti-money-laundering measures, but were pardoned last year by President Donald Trump.
Trump had championed the digital asset industry while on the campaign trail in 2024, and the crypto market flourished upon his return to office. Since then, however, crypto prices have tumbled, with lawmakers still debating the future of crypto legislation.
On Wednesday, Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) released an amended draft of the Clarity Act that included a ban on federal officials issuing or sponsoring digital assets, saying she hopes to reach a deal with her Democratic colleagues within days.
As covered here last week, reservations by Senate Democrats around ethics issues and Trump’s involvement with crypto ventures are among the obstacles facing the Clarity Act.