BitMEX token crashes 90% as exchange announces shutdown

BitMEX’s BMEX token plunged about 90% after the exchange announced plans to shut down, ending nearly 12 years in business as its Bitcoin futures market share shrank.BitMEX’s utility token lost almost all of its value after the exchange announced Thursday it would wind down operations.The BitMEX (BMEX) token plunged 90% to as low as $0.002 from $0.06, according to CoinGecko data. It traded at $0.0063 at the time of writing.The token, which had traded near $0.06 in recent weeks, began falling at around 7:00 am UTC, roughly an hour before BitMEX announced the shutdown on X.Source: CoinGeckoBitMEX announced the closure after its share of the Bitcoin futures market fell to about 0.08%, with roughly $84 million in daily Bitcoin futures trading volume, according to CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju.“It was a great exchange that helped shape the industry, and now it is passing the torch to the next generation of exchanges it inspired,” Ju said in an X post on Thursday.Blockchain analytics platform 10x Research said in an update shared with Cointelegraph that BitMEX’s owners had explored a potential $1 billion sale in 2025 before choosing an orderly wind-down.The decision came less than a year af...