Bybit’s Active Dubai Licence Covers Exchange Services and Permits Spot Trading
Key Facts
Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority has listed Bybit Fintech FZE’s licence for exchange services as active, moving the company from a non-operational initial approval announced in 2024 to a licence permitting it to serve customers within specified activities. The public register shows the licence reference as VL/26/10/003 and its issue date as October 20, 2026. Bybit announced it had obtained the licence in a statement published on October 22, not October 23 as stated in the previous version of the report. The licence allows the company to serve institutional, qualified and retail investors. The company said its exchange services include spot trading in crypto assets.
The register lists Bybit’s licensed activity under the category “Exchange Services,” while the company says its current operations include spot trading. This does not mean derivatives are within the current scope; the company said it hopes to add them later, subject to obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals. VARA’s rules state that traded derivatives services may not be provided by a licensed exchange services provider unless they are expressly authorised in its licence. The authority also says virtual asset activities are separate categories and that companies must seek a licence for the specific activity before carrying it out. The active licence therefore defines the permitted scope of services, while any expansion into other products remains subject to separate approval.
The licence follows more than two years after Bybit announced that it had received a non-operational initial approval from VARA for virtual asset exchange services in Dubai. On September 16, 2024, the company said that approval was a milestone on the way to full operational approval. The authority’s rules state that holders of initial approval may not begin operations, conduct virtual asset activities or serve customers before receiving a full VASP licence. The current register describes Bybit’s licence as active and records the exchange activity and issue date. This sequence reflects the move from preliminary approval that does not permit operations to a licence specifying the activity and the categories of customers it may serve.
VARA regulates virtual asset activities in Dubai’s free zones and mainland, excluding the Dubai International Financial Centre. In May 2025, the authority announced the publication of version 2.0 of its activity rulebooks and said the update strengthened supervisory controls over licensed activities. The public register page shows 60 results when viewed, within a regulatory framework that lists companies, their activities and the status of their licences. Bybit had described obtaining the licence as a milestone in its presence in Dubai, where it said it established its international headquarters in 2022. The licensing statement did not provide an independent finding on its effect on confidence or operational stability; these are promotional descriptions not substantiated by the register details.
Bybit said it has more than 80 million users worldwide, a figure the company cited in its licensing statement. It also said it highlighted five new regulatory licences and approvals during 2026 in the European Union, the Cayman Islands, Indonesia, South Africa and El Salvador. The company described these milestones as licences and approvals, not as full operational licences that were all equivalent. In Dubai, VARA’s register specifies the licence status and permitted activity, while derivatives remain outside the announced scope until additional approval is granted. Peter Lu, Bybit’s chief legal and compliance officer, said: “We hope over time to also expand our licensed activities to include derivatives, subject to the necessary regulatory approvals.”