BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes has announced the closure of the platform that was once the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume and made him the first crypto billionaire. BitMEX will cease operating on 23 September 2026, and new sign-ups have already been halted — the news sent the exchange’s BMEX token crashing 90% within hours.

The story began in January 2014 in a rooftop bar in Hong Kong, where Hayes met British mathematician Ben Delo. American developer Samuel Reed soon joined the project — and the three of them launched the company with laptops in a Starbucks inside Hong Kong’s Jardine House tower.

Hayes was born in 1985 in Detroit to parents who worked at General Motors, graduated from the prestigious…