BitMEX sued for allegedly profiting from customer Bitcoin liquidations

BitMEX has been hit with a proposed class action lawsuit in the United States accusing the cryptocurrency derivatives exchange of engineering customer liquidations that allegedly allowed it to retain hundreds of Bitcoin before its planned September shutdown.

Summary

• BitMEX has been sued in a proposed class action alleging it engineered customer liquidations to retain hundreds of Bitcoin.
• The plaintiffs are seeking the return of 622.66 BTC along with compensatory and punitive damages on behalf of eligible US traders.
• The lawsuit was filed on the same day BitMEX confirmed it will shut down its exchange operations in September.

Court filings in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York show that BKX Services Inc. and trader David Namdar filed the complaint on Thursday, alleging they lost a combined 622.66 BTC through forced liquidations on BitMEX. BKX claims losses of at least 305.81 BTC, while Namdar alleges losses exceeding 316.85 BTC.

Filed on the same day BitMEX confirmed it would wind down its exchange business, the lawsuit revives allegations that have circulated around the platform’s liquidation system for years. The plaintiffs argue that the exchange’s internal trading operations gave it an unfair advantage over customers during periods of market stress.

Plaintiffs seek return of Bitcoin

According to the complaint, BitMEX offered leveraged trading of up to 100 times customers’ collateral but allegedly liquidated positions before all available collateral had been exhausted. The filing claims customers often lost their positions while the remaining Bitcoin collateral was still worth substantially more than the trading losses.

The plaintiffs allege the excess Bitcoin was transferred into BitMEX’s insurance fund instead of being returned to users, allowing the exchange to benefit financially from forced liquidations. They further claim an internal trading desk had access to non-public customer information and was able to continue trading during server outages that prevented ordinary users from managing or closing their own positions.

“BitMEX deliberately developed a system that profited from the liquidations,” the plaintiffs alleged in the complaint.

Alongside the return of the allegedly withheld Bitcoin, BKX Services and Namdar are seeking compensatory and punitive damages. The proposed class action also seeks to represent U.S. customers who traded Bitcoin perpetual swap products in transactions dating back to July 23, 2018.

The filing also points to an earlier class action brought in 2020 by Brett Messieh and other traders, who made similar allegations under the Commodity Exchange Act. Court records cited in the complaint show that case was voluntarily dismissed without prejudice on June 30, 2025, allowing similar claims to be brought again.

Lawsuit coincides with exchange closure

The legal action arrives as BitMEX prepares to end more than a decade of exchange operations.

Earlier on Thursday, HDR Global Trading, the owner and operator of BitMEX, announced that it had decided to close the cryptocurrency derivatives platform following a strategic review of both the business and the digital asset industry. The company said exchange operations will end at 04:00 UTC on Sept. 23.

BitMEX has already stopped accepting new account registrations. Beginning Aug. 26, traders will no longer be able to open new positions and will only be permitted to reduce existing ones. During the weeks leading up to the closure, the exchange said it will progressively close outstanding positions, while any remaining open positions at the final deadline will be liquidated automatically.

The company also said contracts with limited liquidity may be settled early under its existing settlement procedures, with advance notice provided to affected users where necessary.

Although trading services will end in September, BitMEX said customers will continue to have access to their accounts for withdrawals and to review wallet balances and transaction history. Users who leave funds on the platform after the shutdown will be charged either the equivalent of $50 per month or 1% annually, whichever is higher, with fees deducted monthly from verified accounts.

BitMEX also warned customers to remain alert for phishing campaigns attempting to exploit news of the shutdown. It said no priority withdrawal service exists and cautioned users against anyone claiming they could accelerate withdrawals. The company added that increased withdrawal requests and Bitcoin network confirmation times could occasionally delay processing during the wind-down period.

Separately, BitMEX said its reserves remain higher than customer liabilities and pointed users to its proof of reserves and liabilities data as evidence that customer assets remain fully backed.

Exchange closes after months of restructuring

The closure follows several months of internal changes at the exchange.

Earlier this month, BitMEX replaced chief executive Stephan Lutz as part of a management restructuring that also saw chief financial officer Ina Steiner and chief growth officer Raphael Polansky leave the company. Former chief operating officer and global general counsel Peter Wilkinson was subsequently appointed chief executive.

The leadership overhaul came while reports indicated the exchange had been exploring a potential sale. BitMEX has not announced a transaction since those reports emerged.

The company has undergone several executive changes since 2020, when founders Arthur Hayes, Ben Delo and Samuel Reed stepped down after U.S. authorities accused the exchange of failing to implement adequate anti-money laundering controls. BitMEX later pleaded guilty to those charges.

Alexander Höptner became chief executive in 2021 before Lutz took over during the cryptocurrency market downturn in 2022.

Founded in 2014, BitMEX became one of the earliest cryptocurrency derivatives exchanges and introduced the 100x leveraged perpetual swap, a product that later became widely adopted across the industry. In announcing its closure, the company said it had operated for more than 11 years without losing customer funds to hacks and thanked users for supporting the platform throughout its history.

The exchange’s shutdown announcement was followed by a sharp decline in its BMEX utility token, which fell by roughly 90% after the closure plans became public.