The longest-running futures exchange for cryptocurrencies, BitMEX, has launched a series of spot markets on its platform just three days before the sentencing of founders Arthur Hayes and Ben Delo.
- BitMEX will support seven spot trading pairs, with Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Chainlink's LINK, Uniswap's UNI, Polygon's MATIC, Axie Infinity's AXS and APE all tradable against Tether (USDT).
- The exchange said it will give away $1 million in cryptocurrency for users who place trades on the spot pairs.
- The platform launched in 2014 and was considered a market-leading derivatives exchange as it pioneered perpetual swap contracts, which are effectively futures contracts with no expiration, requiring less margin and allowing for higher leverage.
- With the advent of FTX and Binance Futures, BitMEX fell down the pecking order. It now has plans to become a "top 10 global spot exchange," the company said in an email.
- BitMEX's popularity waned after Hayes and Delo were charged by U.S. authorities in 2020 with facilitating unregistered trading and other violations. Both could serve between six and 12 months in prison when they are sentenced this Friday.