BitMEX Faces Class Action Lawsuit Seeking Return of 622.66 BTC on Same Day as Closure Announcement

Plaintiffs File Lawsuit Over Liquidation System and Internal Trading Operations

A class action lawsuit has been filed against the cryptocurrency derivatives exchange BitMEX by BKX Services and trader David Namdar, seeking the return of a total of 622.66 BTC.

The lawsuit was filed on the same day that the company announced the closure of its exchange on September 23, 2026, with issues regarding forced liquidations, fund transfers to insurance funds, and undisclosed internal trading desks being the focal points.

Claiming Loss of 622.66 BTC Due to Forced Liquidation

The plaintiffs submitted their complaint on the 23rd to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

BKX Services claims to have lost at least 305.81 BTC in 13 forced liquidations between July and August 2018, while Namdar alleges losses of over 316.85 BTC from 14 liquidations and more than 69 minor liquidations between August 2019 and May 2020.

According to the complaint, BitMEX offered leveraged trading of up to 100 times the deposited collateral, while forcibly liquidating some positions before exhausting all available collateral. Although the value of the remaining Bitcoin at the time of liquidation exceeded the loss amount, the excess collateral was not returned to customers but transferred to the insurance fund.

The plaintiffs argue that the company intentionally developed a system to profit from the liquidation process, seeking the return of Bitcoin, monetary compensation, and punitive damages. The lawsuit also aims to represent U.S. eligible customers who traded Bitcoin perpetual swap products after July 23, 2018.

Internal Trading Desk and March 2020 Outage Also Under Scrutiny

The complaint also mentions a private internal trading desk that was allegedly operated within the Manhattan office in 2018. This desk was run under the then head of business development, Gregory Dwyer, and reportedly had access to customer account information, hidden orders, and liquidation lines.

Furthermore, it is alleged that the desk used software to identify price levels that would trigger the most customer liquidations and executed trades to guide prices to those levels. While general users were unable to access the platform due to server outages, the internal team was able to continue monitoring positions and trading.

During the outage on March 13, 2020, users were unable to access the platform for about 25 minutes, during which approximately $800 million worth of leveraged positions were forcibly liquidated. Initially, BitMEX attributed the issue to a failure of cloud infrastructure, but later changed its explanation to two DDoS attacks four days later. The plaintiffs claim that this explanation is false and that the platform was intentionally frozen.

The operating company, HDR Global Trading, announced that it would cease trading services at 4 AM (UTC) on September 23 after a strategic review. New account openings have already been halted, and since August 26, no new positions can be opened, with only the reduction of existing positions being permitted. As the closure process progresses, claims regarding past liquidations and internal trading will be brought back to court in the final stages of the exchange.