Cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX faces a £20 million lawsuit filed by British software engineer Lewis Barber, who alleges the company offered unauthorized derivatives trading to UK customers between 2018 and 2022. According to reports from The Guardian, Barber filed the claim at London's High Court against HDR Global Trading Limited, the Seychelles-based operator of BitMEX. The lawsuit centers on cryptocurrency derivatives, financial contracts that allow investors to speculate on price movements without directly owning the underlying assets, with products often involving leverage that increases potential gains and losses. Barber claims he lost bitcoin worth £20 million during this period, seeking the return of all bitcoin lost trading with BitMEX or damages for trades going back several years.
Barber's lawyers argue that BitMEX lacked the necessary Financial Conduct Authority authorization to provide the disputed investment services to UK customers. The claim relies on the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, particularly provisions dealing with agreements entered into by companies conducting regulated activities without required permissions. Under specified conditions, affected customers can seek the return of money or property transferred through such agreements. The claim contends that under the FCA's warning issued on March 3, 2020, the exchange may have been conducting trading in regulated investments without FCA authorization. The disputed transactions involved leveraged cryptocurrency derivatives and perpetual futures, products that allow traders to take positions using borrowed exposure and can produce substantial losses when prices move against leveraged positions.
Responding to the reported lawsuit, a BitMEX spokesperson stated that 'No such claim has been served on HDR Global Trading Limited'. According to The Guardian, the legal action became public weeks after BitMEX ended its cryptocurrency exchange operations on September 23, 2026, following a strategic review of its business. The claim has been filed at the High Court but not yet served on the defendant. Filing proceedings and formally serving them on a defendant are separate legal steps, with service ordinarily giving the defendant notice of the case and an opportunity to respond within the applicable court timetable.
The lawsuit follows earlier enforcement proceedings against BitMEX and its founders in the United States. In July 2024, HDR Global Trading Limited pleaded guilty to violating the Bank Secrecy Act after federal prosecutors accused the exchange operator of failing to maintain an adequate anti-money-laundering program. The U.S. Department of Justice announced a $100 million fine for the Bank Secrecy Act offense in January 2025, following the company's guilty plea and including a two-year probation period. The earlier U.S. proceedings concerned anti-money-laundering compliance and customer identification requirements, while Barber's lawsuit concerns separate questions involving UK regulatory authorization for financial products. BitMEX co-founder Ben Delo has a regulatory history in the United States, with BitMEX entities settling a case with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in 2021 for a $100 million civil penalty.
The claim alleges that BitMEX marketed itself to British customers, stating that the defendant placed at least one advertisement in The Times published on January 3, 2019 which promoted the exchange. Gareth Keillor, a partner at Seladore Legal representing Barber, described the case as 'a substantial claim concerning losses sustained by Lewis over a number of years'. The allegations come as the FCA banned the sale of crypto derivatives to UK retail customers from January 6, 2021, after regulators determined that trading in such products placed retail consumers 'at a high risk of suffering losses' and that regulators had 'evidence of this happening on a significant scale'. Barber's lawyers suggested that other UK customers may have entered similar agreements with the platform, though the merits of any separate claims would depend on individual trading records and circumstances.
