Old-established exchanges frequently seek to 'sell themselves', and the crypto industry ushers in a wave of mergers and acquisitions

Author: flowie, ChainCatcher

As the crypto market plummeted, some old exchanges began to seek "selling themselves".

Today, according to CoinDesk, BitMEX, a crypto derivatives platform founded by Arthur Hayes, is seeking to sell.

Not long ago, Kraken and Coinbase were also revealed to be bidding for another major crypto derivatives trading platform Deribit. According to a person familiar with the matter, the acquisition case may have been signed, and the amount of the acquisition may be as high as US$5 billion, breaking the largest acquisition transaction record in crypto history.

In addition, crypto brokerage firm FalconX has also expanded its derivatives business by acquiring Arbelos Markets, a startup for crypto derivatives.

Not only the crypto derivatives market, the entire crypto market may usher in a wave of mergers and acquisitions.

The crypto derivatives market will reshape the patternBitMEX and Deribit are important leaders in the crypto derivatives market.

Founded in 2014, BitMEX is one of the earliest platforms to focus on cryptocurrency derivatives trading. Especially between 2017 and 2019, its Bitcoin derivatives trading volume once ranked first in the world.

After, due to compliance pressure, poor transformation and market competition, BitMEX gradually lags behind Binance and OKX competitors. However, according to data such as CoinMarketCap, BitMEX is still ranked among the top ten in the crypto derivative trading volume ranking.

Deribit has long dominated the options market. In 2024, Deribit's annual trading volume exceeded US$1.1 trillion, and its Bitcoin options trading volume once accounted for more than 80% of the total market trading volume, and Ethereum options trading volume accounted for as much as 90%.

2024 is a new year for the global crypto derivatives market to set a new record, with an average daily trading volume exceeding US$100 billion and a monthly trading volume exceeding US$3 trillion, far exceeding the trading volume in the spot market. Major exchanges are also competing in the derivatives market.

BitMEX and Deribit are seeking to sell themselves at this time, or face multiple challenges such as compliance and competition among top exchanges.

From the size of BitMEX and Deribit, only a few more top exchange players have the ability to bid. If the merger is completed, the entire crypto derivatives and crypto exchange market will face reshaping.

M&A wave of mergers and acquisitions is coming: nearly 15 transactions per month, and large-scale acquisitions are frequently seen

According to RootData data, in the two months since 2025, there have been nearly 30 mergers and acquisitions in the encryption field, with an average of more than 10 encryption mergers and acquisitions per month.

The total merger and acquisition incidents in 2024 reached 105, a record high, an increase of 36.3% from 77 in 2023.

In terms of the amount of mergers and acquisitions, since 2024, there have been 6 mergers and acquisitions exceeding US$100 million, and the amount of mergers and acquisitions has been breaking through new highs. In December 2024, traditional payment giant Stripe acquired the stablecoin platform Bridge for US$1.1 billion. If Deribit and BitMEX complete the merger, the amount of the merger will inevitably break through a new high.

From 2024 to the present, mergers and acquisitions exceeding US$100 millionAs the cryptocurrency market matures, the industry integration trend is obvious, and only a few platforms can finally stand out.

In the incentive market competition, giants quickly expand their products and services through acquisitions. For the acquired project parties, in the case of inverted valuations in the first and second level, selling is not a perfect way to exit than issuing coins.

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