Stephan Lutz
Former CEO, BitMEX
Stephan Lutz, who ran BitMEX from October 2022 until June 2026, argued that the exchange should act as a bridge between incoming institutional capital and the individual traders whose demand it grew out of.
Why the room needs them.
Stephan Lutz led the crypto derivatives exchange BitMEX from October 2022 until leaving the chief executive role in June 2026. He had joined BitMEX's parent company as chief financial officer in 2021, after nearly a decade as a partner at PwC. He spoke at Proof of Talk Paris 2026 on a Hecto Main Stage panel about what October 10th revealed about crypto market fragility.
The full account.
Stephan Lutz was chief executive of BitMEX, the crypto derivatives exchange, until June 2026. He joined its parent company, 100x Group, as chief financial officer in May 2021, after nearly a decade as a partner at PwC, where he was capital markets sector lead for PwC Europe, based in Frankfurt. As PwC Germany's Brexit lead partner, he helped shape Brexit preparations at the European Central Bank. Before PwC, he was senior vice president managing mergers and acquisitions at Deutsche Börse and then head of human resources for its operations in Germany, Switzerland, the United States and the United Kingdom. He began his career in corporate finance and equity trading at Dresdner Bank.
In October 2022, BitMEX named Lutz interim chief executive after Alexander Hoeptner left, with Lutz continuing as chief financial officer. Speaking to CryptoSlate in August 2025, he said the exchange had overhauled its front-end and back-end infrastructure since the 2022 crypto winter to put "more focus on risk management". That month BitMEX launched a copy-trading feature, and CryptoSlate reported that it had recently moved its data centres from Dublin to Tokyo to cater to institutional traders.
In an interview with CoinShares' The Node, published in May 2026, Lutz placed the exchange between institutions and individual traders: "BitMEX was built as a professional, institutional-grade platform that happens to be open to individuals." The Node reported that he started reading about Bitcoin in 2015 while doing financial inclusion work for central banks in Southeast Asia.
Lutz spoke at Proof of Talk Paris 2026 as chief executive of BitMEX. On 2 June 2026, the summit's first day, he appeared on the Hecto Main Stage in the panel "After the Flush: What October 10th Revealed About Crypto Market Fragility", alongside Victor Jung, Alex Kim and Avtar Sehra, in a session moderated by Artem Sinyakin. The invitation-only executive summit, organised by X Ventures, was held at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in the Louvre Palace.
On 29 June 2026, CoinDesk reported, citing a BitMEX spokesperson, that Lutz had resigned as chief executive and that Peter Wilkinson, the firm's former global general counsel and chief operating officer, had taken over. In July 2026, after his departure, BitMEX's owner announced that the exchange would close in September 2026.
What Stephan believes about the next ten years.
Years of shipping.
Lines that keep proving correct.
“BitMEX was built as a professional, institutional-grade platform that happens to be open to individuals.”
“We are simply recognising that the centre of gravity is shifting from individuals towards institutions.”
“I was always a rebel, and I always liked to do things differently.”
What they have built, written, and backed.
Built
- Copy trading at BitMEXBitMEX launched a copy-trading feature in August 2025, while Lutz was chief executive; he described it to CryptoSlate as bridging traditional finance and crypto.
- Data centres moved to TokyoCryptoSlate reported in August 2025 that BitMEX had recently moved its data centres from Dublin to Tokyo to cater to institutional traders; Lutz said the location makes hedging between venues easier for market makers.
The next Proof of Talk is in Abu Dhabi.
Louvre Abu Dhabi, 3–4 December 2026. Admission is by application, and the room is capped at 2,000.
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