BitMEX
Acquisitions
3
Major Deals Covered
$192M
Disclosed Deal Value
BitMEX's largest disclosed acquisition here is Bankhaus von der Heydt Purchase Agreement for $120M in 2022. This page covers 3 major deals from 2020 to 2022, each with its price where disclosed and the reason behind it.
| Company | Year | Price | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100x Group Financial Architecture | 2020 | $50.0M | Established 100x Group as the holding entity, acquiring technology assets to broaden into spot trading and custody. |
| Bankhaus von der Heydt Purchase Agreement | 2022 | $120.0M | Signed an agreement to acquire historic German private bank Bankhaus von der Heydt to establish a regulated European banking footprint. |
| BitMEX Link Institutional Brokerage | 2021 | $22.0M | Acquired algorithmic trade routing and liquidity aggregation software to launch an institutional crypto prime brokerage. |
2022
$120M
Signed an agreement to acquire historic German private bank Bankhaus von der Heydt to establish a regulated European banking footprint.
Aimed to secure direct BaFin regulatory oversight and European banking licenses for tokenized asset issuance.
The transaction was mutually called off in late 2022, but the technology assets formed BitMEX Link.
2021
$22M
Acquired algorithmic trade routing and liquidity aggregation software to launch an institutional crypto prime brokerage.
Allowed hedge funds and institutional traders to access multi-exchange liquidity directly through a single BitMEX interface.
Strengthened institutional trading volumes and expanded BitMEX's regulated service offerings in Switzerland.
2020
$50M
Established 100x Group as the holding entity, acquiring technology assets to broaden into spot trading and custody.
Restructured corporate governance and separated the exchange platform from derivative proprietary technology development.
Enabled BitMEX to diversify beyond leveraged perpetual swaps into spot markets and institutional custody.
After 2020 BitMEX tried to rebuild as a compliant venue. It enforced identity checks, hired traditional-exchange executives such as former Börse Stuttgart CEO Alexander Höptner, signed a multi-year AC Milan sleeve sponsorship in August 2021, agreed to buy German private bank Bankhaus von der Heydt in January 2022 (dropped that March), launched spot trading in May 2022 and listed the BMEX token in November 2022. When those steps failed to lift market share, the owners pursued a sale for about two years and, finding no buyer, closed the exchange in 2026.
BitMEX made its money from trading fees on leveraged derivatives. Every trade on its perpetual swaps and futures carried a fee on notional value: takers paid, while makers who posted resting orders were often paid a rebate to deepen the order book. Because contracts like XBTUSD were margined and settled in Bitcoin, fees were collected in BTC and the exchange never needed fiat banking. Liquidations fed an insurance fund, which grew when positions closed better than their bankruptcy price. The CFTC's 2020 complaint said this model produced more than $1 billion in fees between 2014 and 2020. After US enforcement cut volume, BitMEX added a spot exchange (May 2022), the BMEX utility token (trading from November 2022) and multi-currency margin, but none restored its earlier scale.
No completed acquisitions are on record. Its main attempt was the planned purchase of German private bank Bankhaus von der Heydt through BXM Operations AG, announced in January 2022 and called off on March 31, 2022.
To gain a regulated European base for crypto custody, brokerage and related services. Both parties said they mutually agreed to drop the deal.
No. HDR Global Trading spent about two years trying to sell BitMEX with Broadhaven as adviser, reportedly targeting about $1 billion. Buyers including Exodus walked away over founder ownership, falling market share and legal issues.
HDR Global Trading Limited, part of the 100x group of companies, owns and operates BitMEX. Reports during the sale process said co-founders Hayes, Delo and Reed still held a majority stake.
Yes, in a massive and controversial move in 2022, BitMEX attempted to outright acquire Bankhaus von der Heydt, a 268-year-old traditional German bank, though the deal eventually collapsed.
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