Major crypto derivatives exchange BitMEX is finally embracing ethereum (ETH), telling its customers that they can now make deposits, withdrawals, and trades using the coin, and that more coins will be added “over the coming weeks.”
Up until today, BitMEX has only dealt with bitcoin (BTC) and the stablecoin tether (USDT), with all trading on the platform being based on derivatives of other cryptoassets rather than the underlying tokens themselves.
The news was shared on Twitter on Monday by BitMEX CEO Alexander Höptner:
The step to accept ETH is yet another sign that BitMEX is moving forward on its plans for a crypto spot exchange in addition to its existing derivatives business.
“Over the coming weeks, our platform will be supporting more coins and tokens in the build up to the long-awaited launch of BitMEX Spot,” the exchange wrote in its announcement.
In addition, the exchange also said that users have until March 31 to take advantage of a promotion that offers up to 250 BitMEX Tokens (BMEX) for converting ETH, USDT, or BTC (known as XBT on BitMEX).
BMEX is BitMEX’s recently launched exchange token that rewards users for things like trading, referrals, staking, and other activities. The token will become tradable once BitMEX launches its spot exchange in the second quarter of this year, according to the exchange.
“BMEX is the token for true believers in this new era and will be the fuel we use to expand the BitMEX ecosystem,” BitMEX’s Höptner said in a comment when the exchange first launched the token through a BMEX 1.5m airdrop to its users in January this year.
ApeCoin perpetuals
Meanwhile, BitMEX also announced today that it is launching a perpetual futures market for the newly released ApeCoin (APE), a governance and utility token issued by the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) non-fungible token (NFT) community.
The APE token was launched via an airdrop on Thursday last week, and it soared in price immediately after its launch as exchanges rushed to list it.
BitMEX started out in 2014 as one of the world’s first BTC-based derivatives exchanges under the leadership of Arthur Hayes, a former banker and derivatives trader. Among other things, the invention of perpetual futures contracts in the crypto space has been attributed to BitMEX.
The exchange for some time remained the dominant player in the derivatives market for BTC and ETH before spot exchanges like Binance and, later, the more derivatives-focused exchange FTX challenged its dominance.
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Source: Crypto News
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