Crypto exchange BitMEX spent two years exploring a sale with multiple prospective buyers, including competitor exchanges and payments platform Exodus, before failing to clinch a deal and announcing plans to wind down operations, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The would-be acquirers were put off by the company's founder-led ownership structure, its shrinking business, and lingering reputational issues, the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity as the matter is private. CoinDesk reported in early 2025 that investment bank Broadhaven was advising the Seychelles-based company on a sale process.
Although co-founders Arthur Hayes, Ben Delo and Samuel Reed had long since stepped away from the business after U.S. criminal charges were brought against them in 2020, one prospective buyer was uncomfortable that they still controlled a large majority of the company, the source said. That made negotiations harder because buyers typically want part of the acquisition payout to encourage executives to stay on after a deal closes.
The company's deteriorating financial performance compounded these concerns. BitMEX continued to lose market share throughout the sale process as trading activity migrated to larger centralized exchanges and decentralized perpetual futures platforms, making potential acquirers reluctant to pay the revenue multiple typically reserved for growing businesses, the person said. The exchange was reportedly seeking a valuation of around $1 billion during the process, although it is unclear whether formal bids were ever submitted. Both BitMEX and Exodus did not respond to requests for comment by publication time.
BitMEX pioneered the perpetual futures contract in 2016 with the launch of its XBTUSD perpetual swap. Unlike traditional futures, perpetuals have no expiry date and use a funding-rate mechanism to keep prices aligned with the underlying asset. The product was rapidly adopted across the industry and today accounts for the vast majority of crypto derivatives volume on exchanges such as Binance, Bybit and Hyperliquid.
