Some inventions outlive their inventors. BitMEX pioneered the perpetual swap, a financial derivative that allows people to make a bet on an asset’s price while using up to 100 times leverage and while being unconstrained by any expiring contracts. Perpetuals went on to become crypto’s most copied (and most popular) financial instrument.

However, on July 23, BitMEX said it will close for good on Sept. 23. The reasons for that closure signal a lot about the next few years of crypto.

Image source: Getty Images.

What finished BitMEX off?

During BitMEX’s peak in 2018 to 2019, it ran more than half of all crypto derivatives volume, with some days seeing volumes near $8 billion. One of its founders, Arthur Hayes, became one of the crypto…