EL7.AI
CryptoMedium•22 October 2026•
3 min read

Dubai Register Lists Bybit With In-Principle Approval Dated 2024 That Bars Operations

Key Facts

1Dubai's regulatory register records an in-principle approval for Bybit Fintech for exchange services dated 21 August 2024.
2The decision licensing Bybit EU to provide crypto-asset services was issued on 28 May 2025.
3Bybit Payments obtained an electronic money institution license on 4 August 2026.
4Bybit's regional expansion plan targets more than 500 employees across Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
5The Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority prohibits starting operations and serving customers under an in-principle approval before full licensing.

Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority lists Bybit Fintech among holders of in-principle approvals for exchange services, with an approval dated 21 August 2024 that prohibits operations before full licensing. The regulatory register classifies the company's status as "In-Principle Approval" and identifies the covered activity as "Exchange Services". The authority prohibits holders of this approval from conducting any virtual asset activities at this stage. The prohibition covers serving customers as well as starting operations until licensing is completed. Bybit previously described its approval from the Dubai authority as a "non-operational provisional approval". The company said that approval represented a stage in the process of securing full operational approval in the emirate.

At the UAE level, Bybit previously announced that it had obtained a full license from the Securities and Commodities Authority under a regulatory process separate from licensing by Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority. In its announcement, the company described itself as "the first cryptocurrency trading platform to obtain this full license" from the authority. Regarding Dubai customers, the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority stipulates that service providers it has not licensed may not onboard residents of the emirate as customers. The published general terms for Bybit's UAE entity list Dubai among the jurisdictions excluded from the provision of services and products to users. In its overview of its regulatory status, Bybit says "no single authorization covers Bybit's global operations". The company explains that its regulatory status and the services available to its customers vary by region.

In Europe, Bybit EU obtained a license to provide crypto-asset services under the European framework regulating markets in these assets, according to Austria's Financial Market Authority. The decision granting that license was issued on 28 May 2025. Bybit Payments subsequently obtained an electronic money institution license on 4 August 2026, according to a separate announcement by the Austrian authority. The later decision concerns another Bybit entity and electronic money activities, compared with the crypto-asset services covered by the earlier decision. The crypto-asset services license thus dates to 2025, while the electronic money institution license dates to 2026.

Bybit positions compliance as one of the factors attracting institutions, according to comments by Ben Zhou published by the company in the context of its institutional business. Zhou said: "Institutions choose Bybit because they want certainty around liquidity, compliance and performance." As part of its upcoming UAE expansion, the company disclosed plans to establish a larger regional operations hub in Abu Dhabi. The plan includes exceeding 500 employees across Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The announced target combines employees in both emirates as a goal of the expansion plan presented by the company.