BitMEX Group Eyes 268-Year-Old German Bank, Signs Purchase Agreement

Crypto trading platform BitMEX Group showed its interest in acquiring the Germany-based 268-year-old bank, Bankhaus von der Heydt by signing a purchase agreement subject to the approval of BaFin.

BMX Operations AG of the group founded by BitMEX CEO Alexander Höptner and its CFO Stephan Lutz signed the contract with the current owner of Bankhaus von der Heydt bank.

Bankhaus von der Heydt was founded in 1754, and in the last year, it has collaborated with Fireblocks, a digital asset security platform, to provide crypto services to its clients.

Although BitMex Group expects to complete the transaction in midyear, BaFin’s approval for the agreement may not be easy to get as fintech scandals had recently hit banks like Greensill and Wirecard in Germany.

Last year, a local German court adjudged Greensill Bank as insolvent. German Payments solidified Wirecard for bankruptcy as $2 billion was noted missing from its balance sheet.

BitMex Group did not unfold the terms and conditions of the agreement, but it informed that once the BanFin nodes yes, Bankhaus von der Heydt will proceed to operate as an autonomous business unit with Höptner and Lutz among the supervisory board.

Höptner notes that if the deal goes ahead, BitMex Group intends to design “a regulated crypto product powerhouse in the heart of Europe.” The group looks forward to initiating regulated crypto products in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria.

In addition, the group plans to establish its root in Europe. At the beginning of this year, the group launched a crypto brokerage service called BitMEX Link in Switzerland. This service is owned by BXM Link AG, which is the sister concern of the group.

In October 2020, when the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) sued BitMEX and its founders, it was in an attempt to restore its lost market share.

The commission registered a case against BitMEX and its founders Arthur Hayes, Samuel Reed, and Ben Delo, for running an unregistered trading platform. Last year, the group settled the case by paying a $100 million penalty to the CFTC. But the commission’s lawsuit against the founders still continues.

From Börse Stuttgart GmbH and Euwax AG, Höptner joined BitMEX in December 2020 and has employed several steps to retrieve the market share of the exchange.

In the previous month, BitMEX announced the issue of BMEX (the group’s native token), to bestow trading incentives to users. Earlier this month, the group also recruited several new C-level executives to work in spots, custody products, and brokerage, other than offering primary financial derivatives.

The company also hired Rupertus Rothenhaeuser from Crypto Finance AG as the Chief Commercial Officer and Raphael Polansky from Blocknox as the new Chief Operating Officer.