BitMEX Faces Class-Action Lawsuit for $60M Over Alleged Fraudulent Liquidations on Day of Shutdown Announcement

On July 23, 2026, the same day BitMEX announced it will shut down operations on September 23, 2026, plaintiffs BKX Services and David Namdar filed a proposed class-action lawsuit in New York federal court. The suit seeks the return of 622.66 Bitcoin (worth $40.7 million), alleging BitMEX rigged its liquidation engine to seize customer collateral and allowed an internal desk to trade during server freezes. BitMEX's native BMEX token plunged 90% following the shutdown news, marking a turbulent end for the pioneer of the perpetual swap.

BitMEX class-action lawsuit allegations

• ▪The complaint alleges that an internal BitMEX trading desk had access to non-public customer information and could continue trading during server outages that locked out ordinary users
• ▪The lawsuit revives claims from a 2020 class action filed by Brett Messieh and other traders under the Commodity Exchange Act, which was voluntarily dismissed without prejudice on June 30, 2025
• ▪The lawsuit alleges BitMEX offered up to 100x leverage and automatically liquidated customer positions while remaining collateral was still worth roughly twice the losses, transferring the excess Bitcoin to its own insurance fund
• ▪The plaintiffs in the BitMEX lawsuit allege they lost a combined 622.66 Bitcoin, valued at approximately $40.7 million, through forced liquidations on the platform
• ▪BKX Services Inc. and trader David Namdar filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against HDR Global Trading Limited and other BitMEX-related entities in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on July 23, 2026
• ▪The lawsuit seeks to represent U.S. customers who traded BitMEX Bitcoin perpetual swap products in transactions dating back to July 23, 2018

BitMEX shutdown wind-down process

• ▪HDR Global Trading announced on July 23, 2026, that it will completely shut down the BitMEX exchange service on September 23, 2026, at 04:00 UTC.
• ▪BitMEX has suspended new user registrations and will restrict users from opening new positions starting August 26, 2026.
• ▪The shutdown follows a leadership overhaul in July 2026 where Peter Wilkinson replaced Stephan Lutz as CEO, and CFO Ina Steiner and Chief Growth Officer Raphael Polansky left the company
• ▪Users who leave funds on BitMEX after the September 23, 2026 shutdown will be charged a maintenance fee of either $50 per month or 1% annually, whichever is higher

BMEX token price collapse

• ▪BitMEX's native BMEX utility token experienced a sharp price collapse of approximately 90% following the exchange's shutdown announcement.
• ▪BitMEX unstaked all staked BMEX tokens and returned them to user wallets for immediate withdrawal following the shutdown announcement

BitMEX competitive market decline

• ▪BitMEX's market share declined as liquidity and traders migrated to deeper venues like Binance and decentralized platforms like Hyperliquid, which became the second-largest perpetuals exchange by open interest
• ▪The competitive decline occurred alongside a 10% drop in centralized exchange perpetual futures volume to $12.7 trillion in the second quarter of 2026.

BitMEX prior AML violations

• ▪In 2020, U.S. prosecutors charged BitMEX co-founders Arthur Hayes, Ben Delo, and Samuel Reed with violating the Bank Secrecy Act by failing to maintain adequate anti-money laundering controls.
• ▪The BitMEX co-founders pleaded guilty to the Bank Secrecy Act charges, HDR Global Trading paid a $100 million penalty, and President Donald Trump pardoned the co-founders in March 2025