BitMEX Launches Spot Crypto Exchange After $30 Million Fine

Global crypto derivatives exchange BitMEX is expanding its platform beyond just derivatives by finally launching a spot crypto trading platform.

BitMEX officially announced on May 17 that its spot crypto exchange, the BitMEX Spot Exchange, is now live, allowing retail and institutional investors to buy, sell and trade cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH).

At launch, the exchange will support seven pairs of cryptocurrencies, including BTC, ETH, Chainlink (LINK), Uniswap (UNI), Polygon (MATIC), Axie Infinity (AXS), and ApeCoin (APE), all trading against the Tether stablecoin (USDT). ).

The launch of the BitMEX Spot Exchange comes as the company plans to become one of the top ten spot exchanges in the world. The company decided last year to build its own spot exchange in response to the increasing demand for crypto trading from its current user base, according to the announcement.

“Today, BitMEX is one step closer to providing a full crypto ecosystem for our users to buy, sell and trade their favorite digital assets. We will not rest as we strive to deliver more features, more trading pairs and more ways for our customers to participate in the crypto revolution,” said BitMEX CEO Alexander Höpner.

Founded in 2014, BitMEX is one of the world’s largest and oldest crypto trading companies and starts providing its services about six years after Bitcoin’s launch. Unlike spot exchanges, BitMEX has primarily focused on derivatives, allowing users to buy and sell contracts such as futures, options, and perpetual contracts on a wide variety of crypto assets.

At the time of writing, BitMEX is one of the top 30 crypto derivatives trading platforms, with a daily trading volume of $841 million, according to data from CoinMarketCap. BitMEX was ranked as one of the largest derivatives platforms by open interest next to Binance as of 2020.

BitMEX has been dealing with legal issues recently, with founders Arthur Hayes and Hong Konger Benjamin Delo pleading guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act in February 2022. The court eventually ordered a total of $30 million in civil fines from the three co founders of BitMEX crypto derivatives exchange in March.

Related: Brazilian Stock Exchange Launches Bitcoin and Ethereum Futures

The company also reportedly laid off about 75 employees — or a quarter of the company’s staff — in April after a failed takeover of German bank Bankhaus von der Heyd.

BitMEX did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment. This article will be updated pending new information.