Five Questions with Alexander Höptner from BitMEX

Alexander Höptner: My mission as the CEO is to take what the founders have created to the next level – transforming from a crypto derivatives exchange to something bigger. Earlier this year we announced that we will expand our service offering by adding five new global business segments including Spot, Brokerage, Custody, Information Products, and Academy. That, though, is just the starting point with many more ideas in the pipeline.

Our transformation has just begun, and the BitMEX brand is very strong. Part of my mission is to expand and deepen understanding of what we stand for, and what we think is right. That includes our vision for the crypto ecosystem as a whole and building understanding of digital assets and crypto among as wide an audience as possible. So we’re continuing to support Bitcoin development, and also setting an example of being responsible innovators.

Alexander Höptner: The scrutiny attracted from global regulators is proof that the market is growing significantly as well as maturing. In particular, we are seeing more institutional players recognising the opportunity cryptocurrencies represent – which we think is a good thing.However, that scrutiny is proof that if we aspire to the ideals of cryptocurrency to transform financial services, we need to work cooperatively with regulators around the world. We cannot and should not operate in silos from the rest of the financial services industry so we need to work closely to ensure we create a system that benefits those who matter most – the users themselves.

KYC is a prerequisite; it builds trust with users and regulators. As the first crypto derivatives exchange of our kind to be fully KYC-ed, we’re glad to see other industry players embrace KYC and AML policies. 

Zooming out, we see education and open dialogue with regulators as essential to industry growth and, as you said, “maturation”. We are now in active conversations and have established collaborative relationships with regulatory authorities in a number of jurisdictions,

Alexander Höptner: In terms of the BitMEX trading engine, we have been working hard to scale up platform capacity to handle orders, and we are focused on continuing to upgrade and enhance the platform. The net result is a stable, safe, and secure trading experience for our users even during times of extreme volatility, as we have seen over recent months.

Our ambition, though, is to transform BitMEX to go beyond derivatives, and we appreciate the loyalty our traders have given us and which is such a fundamental part of our growth.

Alexander Höptner: As you say, we created the perpetual swap so innovation is in our DNA. We’re bringing a positive change to BitMEX in the next few weeks with the introduction of Tether-margined contracts – something users are going to be really excited about. 

This summer we also made progress rapidly listing more Altcoin products, something our users have been asking for. 

Other products include the BitMEX Basket Indices which cover both the Altcoin (.BALTMEX) and DeFi (.BDEFIMEX) markets.

But now is no time to rest and say ‘job done’. As I said earlier, we’re rapidly expanding our products and services and in the near term you’ll see some even bigger announcements from us with the goal of expanding the choices our clients have on the BitMEX platform. Stay tuned.

Alexander Höptner: While I won’t offer any specific trading advice, I do believe that traders need to have conviction in their core investment thesis, standing by it whatever headwinds come their way.

I also think it’s important to self-assess continuously and be prepared to adjust a strategy or position when those headwinds start to chip away at underlying assumptions that support your thesis.

That’s a fine balance to pull off – staying true to your conviction while having the self-awareness to know when to change tack – but I think that’s what marks out successful traders.