BitMEX Hit With Proposed Class Action Seeking Return of 622 BTC Ahead of September Shutdown

A group of BitMEX users has asked a U.S. federal court to order the exchange to return 622.66 Bitcoin, alleging BitMEX engineered liquidations and kept traders' collateral instead of refunding it. The proposed class action was filed July 23 in the Southern District of New York, as BitMEX began a regulator-approved winddown ahead of a planned closure. Under the timetable disclosed by the exchange, reduce-only trading is slated to start Aug. 26, with positions potentially subject to forced closures before services end Sept. 23. The complaint is led by BKX Services Inc., which says it lost at least 305.809 BTC through BitMEX liquidations in 2018, and David Namdar, who alleges losses of 316.856 BTC from 2019 to 2020. The plaintiffs are seeking the Bitcoin itself, not only its dollar value, asserting claims including replevin and fraud. Named defendants include BitMEX operator HDR Global Trading Limited and affiliates ABS Global Trading Limited, 100x Holdings Limited, Shine Effort Inc Limited and HDR Global Services (Bermuda) Limited. Cofounders Arthur Hayes, Samuel Reed and Benjamin Delo are also listed as defendants, along with Gregory Dwyer. According to the filing, BitMEX's liquidation engine allegedly closed positions when unrealized losses approached about half of a trader's posted collateral. The complaint claims that left collateral worth roughly twice the losses, with BitMEX allegedly seizing the remainder and transferring it into its Insurance Fund instead of returning it. The suit also alleges an undisclosed internal trading desk had visibility into customer positions, hidden orders and liquidation thresholds. It claims the desk used anonymized accounts, continued trading during server freezes that locked out ordinary customers, and traded on reference exchanges to create price moves that triggered liquidations. These allegations have not been proven in court. BitMEX CEO Peter Wilkinson told Benzinga the case is "spurious and opportunistic" and said the company would fight it. The filing revisits conduct that was part of a prior BitMEX class action brought in 2020 under the Commodity Exchange Act. That case was voluntarily dismissed without prejudice in June 2025, with no decision on the merits. The new lawsuit instead pleads replevin and fraud, arguing the earlier case tolled the applicable limitations period. On July 23, the Financial Services Authority of Seychelles said HDR voluntarily withdrew its pending virtual-asset licence application. Under the regulator-approved plan, HDR is limited to winding down operations, closing positions and returning client-held assets before exchange services end on Sept. 23. BitMEX's shutdown notice says users will retain access after that date to view balances and withdraw funds, and the company says its assets exceed its liabilities. The winddown plan addresses client-held assets but does not address Bitcoin disputed through historical liquidations, a gap that adds urgency to the ownership dispute without, by itself, establishing that jurisdiction, the litigation, or potential recovery has been impaired.