BitMEX leadership has been hit by a broad shakeup, with the crypto derivatives exchange removing CEO, CFO and head of growth.
BitMEX leadership has been hit by a broad shakeup, with the crypto derivatives exchange removing its CEO, CFO and head of growth as it tries to stay relevant in a derivatives market now dominated by rivals.
The exchange reportedly removed CEO Stephan Lutz, group CFO and head of risk Ina Steiner and head of growth Louise Abbott. Peter Wilkinson, BitMEX’s global general counsel, has taken over as CEO, Steiner wrote on a LinkedIn post on Friday, June 26.
The shakeup marks another reset for BitMEX more than a decade after the exchange launched in 2014 under Arthur Hayes, Ben Delo and Samuel Reed.
It’s at least the fourth CEO handoff since Hayes left the top job during BitMEX’s U.S. legal crisis in 2020.
Hayes and Delo pleaded guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act by failing to maintain an anti-money-laundering program in 2022, while the three co-founders and the BitMEX entity were pardoned by U.S. President Donald Trump in 2025.
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BitMEX Leadership Changes Hit as Rivals Pull Ahead
The shakeup comes as BitMEX is no longer the center of crypto leverage trading it once was. The exchange still runs a derivatives business built around perpetual swaps and futures, but Binance, Bybit, OKX and newer venues such as Hyperliquid now dominate much of the attention and liquidity in crypto perps.
CoinGecko data shows BitMEX has about $200 million in daily derivatives volume and roughly $751 million in open interest, while Binance Futures has about $34 billion in volume and $22 billion in open interest.
From the on-chain perspective, Hyperliquid has also moved far ahead of BitMEX in some core metrics, with DefiLlama data showing about $2.3 billion in daily perp volume and nearly $9 billion in open interest.
Steiner’s post suggested the company had been working on licensing and accounting systems, treasury operations, but didn’t give a reason for the management changes.
Read more: BitMEX Co-Founder Cuts Bitcoin Price Forecast From $500K to $125K
