dumbflow
I'm a UK crypto trader. I lost millions on BitMEX. And I'm going after it — legally.
For years I thought that money was gone for good. A bad trade. A brutal liquidation. My own fault. Then I read section 26 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 — and everything changed.
The law doesn't care whether you traded well. It asks one question: was BitMEX even allowed to sell you those products in the UK? The public evidence points one way: no.
And when a firm sells regulated products to UK customers without permission, FSMA can make those deals unenforceable — and your money recoverable. Not a bailout. The law. I'm building a UK group claim, and every trader who joins makes it stronger.
- I lost millions on BitMEX. I'm building a UK group claim to get it back.
- BitMEX was never FCA-authorised. The FCA warned back in March 2020 it may have been serving UK customers illegally.
- No licence, no right to sell to UK customers (FSMA s.19). Deals made in breach can be void — and your money clawed back (FSMA s.26).
- UK-resident and traded on BitMEX between 2020 and 2023? Your losses may be in scope.
- 60 seconds. Free. Bigger group = stronger claim.
The longer version — how s.19 and s.26 actually work
None of what follows is legal advice, and I'm not your solicitor. I'm a trader who got obsessed with one question and read the statute. Here is what I learned, in plain English.
1. In the UK you need permission to sell financial products
The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (“FSMA”) is the backbone of UK financial regulation. Its foundation is the general prohibition in section 19: no person may carry on a regulated activity in the United Kingdom unless they are authorised by the FCA/PRA or exempt.
“No person may carry on a regulated activity in the United Kingdom, or purport to do so, unless he is an authorised person or an exempt person.”— FSMA 2000, section 19 (the general prohibition)
Dealing in and arranging deals in derivatives — futures, perpetual swaps, options — is a regulated activity when carried on in the UK. Offering leveraged crypto derivatives to UK retail customers falls squarely into the kind of activity FSMA is built around.
2. BitMEX was not authorised — and the FCA said so
BitMEX operated from the Seychelles and was never authorised by the FCA to do regulated business in the UK. On 20 March 2020 the FCA published a consumer warning stating that it believed BitMEX may have been providing financial services or products in the UK without authorisation.
Separately, from 6 January 2021 the FCA banned the sale, marketing and distribution of crypto-derivatives and ETNs to UK retail consumers altogether — a recognition that these products were not suitable to be sold to retail clients in the UK.
3. Section 26 — the part that matters for your money
This is the provision that changes everything. Section 26 says that an agreement made by a person carrying on a regulated activity in breach of the general prohibition is unenforceable against the other party — and that the other party (that's you, the customer) is entitled to recover any money or property paid or transferred under the agreement, plus compensation for any resulting loss.
“An agreement made by a person carrying on a regulated activity in contravention of the general prohibition is unenforceable against the other party; and the other party is entitled to recover any money or other property paid or transferred by him under the agreement, and compensation for any loss sustained…”— FSMA 2000, section 26 (paraphrased)
Read that again. The law is not asking whether your trade was clever. It is saying that if a business took your money by doing regulated business it was never permitted to do, the agreement can be unwound and the money returned. Section 28 gives the court some discretion in how this is applied — which is exactly why a properly organised, well-evidenced group claim matters.
4. Why a group claim — and why now
One trader on their own is easy to ignore. A large, well-documented cohort of UK-resident BitMEX traders, with losses quantified and records preserved, is a serious matter. There is strength — and efficiency — in numbers: shared legal analysis, shared costs, one coordinated process.
Claims don't stay open forever. Limitation periods apply. The single most useful thing you can do today is put your details on record so the claim can be built around real, quantified losses — starting with yours.
Add my losses to the group claim
Questions people ask me
Is this “me being bailed out” for a bad trade?
No. This isn't about the quality of your trading. It's a narrow legal question: whether an unauthorised offshore venue was lawfully allowed to sell you regulated derivatives in the UK. FSMA, not sympathy, is what creates the right to recover.
Do I need to have been profitable, or a big trader?
No. What matters is that you were UK-resident when you traded on BitMEX, and that you can point to the money you paid in and the losses you took. An estimate is fine at this stage; your records can be reconstructed later.
What does it cost me to register?
Nothing to register your interest. Registering puts your losses on record so the claim can be scoped. Any decision about formally proceeding, and on what funding terms, comes later and is entirely your choice.
What period is covered?
The focus is UK-resident traders active roughly between 2020 and 2023. If you're unsure whether your dates fit, register anyway and note the detail — it's better to be on the list.
Who are you, really?
I post pseudonymously as @dumb_flow. I'm a real UK trader who lost a lot of money on BitMEX and decided to do something more useful than doomscroll my own liquidations. This page is educational and is not legal advice.
Register your BitMEX losses
It takes less than 60 seconds. This puts your losses on the record for any UK group claim. It's free and there's no obligation to proceed.