Plaintiffs accuse the exchange of engineering liquidations and diverting excess collateral to its Insurance Fund as the Seychelles-approved wind-down begins.
BitMEX is facing a proposed class action in New York that seeks the return of 622.66 Bitcoin, with two plaintiffs alleging the exchange engineered liquidations and kept collateral that should have been returned to traders. The complaint, filed July 23 in the Southern District of New York, names HDR Global Trading Limited, four affiliated companies and co-founders Arthur Hayes, Samuel Reed and Benjamin Delo, along with Gregory Dwyer. BKX Services Inc. alleges it lost at least 305.809 BTC in 2018, while David Namdar claims 316.856 BTC in losses from 2019 to 2020. Rather than seeking only damages in dollars, the plaintiffs are pursuing the coins themselves under claims for replevin and fraud. The filing alleges BitMEX’s liquidation engine closed positions when unrealized losses reached about half of posted collateral, allowing the platform to seize the remaining collateral and transfer it to its Insurance Fund. It also claims an undisclosed internal trading desk had visibility into customer positions, hidden orders and liquidation points, traded through anonymized accounts, and could continue operating during server freezes that locked out ordinary users, while also trading on reference exchanges to trigger liquidations. Those allegations have not been proven in court. BitMEX CEO Peter Wilkinson told Benzinga the case was “spurious and opportunistic” and said the company would defend itself vigorously. The lawsuit revisits conduct previously targeted in a 2020 class action under the Commodity Exchange Act (U.S. derivatives law), which was voluntarily dismissed without prejudice in June 2025 and did not produce a ruling on the merits. The new case shifts to replevin (claim seeking return of specific property) and fraud, while arguing the earlier action tolled the limitations period. Its timing is notable because the Financial Services Authority of Seychelles (Seychelles regulator) said HDR withdrew its pending virtual-asset licence application on July 23, clearing the way for a regulator-approved wind-down ahead of BitMEX’s Sept. 23 closure. The shutdown plan covers closing positions and returning client-held assets, but it does not resolve whether Bitcoin tied to disputed historical liquidations must also be returned, adding urgency to the ownership dispute without establishing that the court’s jurisdiction, the case itself or any recovery has been impaired.