BitMEX, the crypto derivatives exchange that invented the perpetual swap, is facing a proposed class-action lawsuit over bitcoin theft. and insider trading filed the same day it announced it would close in three months.
The lawsuit, filed by former tokenization project BKX Services and David Namdar in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, sees BKX claiming to have lost at least 305.81 BTC due to forced liquidations, while Namdar alleges losses of more than 316.85 BTC – a total of 622.66 BTC ($40.7 million).
The July 23 filing comes as BitMEX announced it would close on September 23, ending an 11-year period. Similar claims were made in a 2020 class action lawsuit, which was closed in June 2025 without a ruling on the liquidation allegations.
The new complaint alleges that BitMEX and its co-founders Arthur Hayes, Ben Delo and Samuel Reed designed a system to retain customer collateral and transfer remaining bitcoin to the platform’s insurance fund. It also says an internal trading desk had access to clients’ private information and could continue trading during server freezes that prevented other users from closing their positions.
