Bybit is not a forex broker. It is a cryptocurrency exchange whose core business is derivatives, not currency pairs. An earlier article on this site described Forex as the heart of Bybit's market and called it a broker. That framing is wrong and misleads readers about what they are signing up for. This article states plainly what Bybit is, who founded it, where it is licensed, and where it is blocked, so you can tell it apart from a traditional FX or CFD broker.
Bybit at a glance: an exchange, not a broker
Bybit Fintech Limited launched in March 2018. Its founder and chief executive is Ben Zhou, who previously ran the Greater China business for XM, a retail foreign exchange broker. That background causes confusion: a forex executive built a crypto exchange, but it trades crypto, not currency pairs. Bybit began in Singapore and moved its headquarters to Dubai in 2022 as the UAE built out its virtual asset rules. Today it ranks among the largest crypto exchanges by volume, with tens of millions of users in more than a hundred countries.
Founded in 2018 with a derivatives focus
The product that made Bybit was the perpetual contract, a derivative with no expiry date that tracks the price of an underlying coin such as Bitcoin or Ethereum. Bybit opened in 2018 with BTC and ETH perpetuals and built its name on a fast matching engine and deep order books during volatile sessions. Spot trading, where you buy and sell actual coins, came later, in 2021. Options, copy trading, and earn products followed. The point for a newcomer is that derivatives were first and remain central, which is a different risk profile from a simple spot coin shop.
Leverage is part of that profile. Bybit has offered perpetuals with leverage up to 100x or more on selected contracts, and higher on some pairs in the past. High leverage multiplies both gains and losses and is the main reason a derivatives venue is treated differently from a spot exchange by regulators. A forex broker also offers leverage, but on currency pairs and through a different legal and licensing frame, which is the distinction this article keeps returning to.
Why Bybit is not a forex broker
A forex or CFD broker takes retail orders in currency pairs, indices, commodities, or shares, often as contracts for difference settled in fiat, and holds licences from bodies like the FCA, ASIC, or CySEC. Bybit does not offer fiat settled EUR/USD or GBP/USD, and it is not authorised as a forex broker in any major market. It is a crypto asset business: you deposit crypto or local currency through third party rails and trade crypto spot or crypto denominated derivatives. Bybit lists a few commodity and stock index perpetuals, but these are crypto margined derivatives, not the underlying forex or equities a broker would hand you.
The practical upshot is that the protections a forex client expects, such as segregated client money, an investor compensation scheme, or a local dispute route, do not map onto Bybit in the same way. Which protections you get depends on the Bybit entity you use and the licence it holds.
The CFTC case and a $1.4 billion judgment
Bybit's regulatory record is not clean. In March 2021 the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed a federal complaint against Bybit and Ben Zhou, alleging the platform solicited Americans to trade leveraged digital asset products without registering as a futures commission merchant and without complying with anti money laundering rules. Bybit did not appear to defend, and in March 2024 a US judge entered a default judgment of about 1.4 billion dollars: roughly 1.007 billion in disgorgement and 375 million in civil penalty, plus trading and registration bans. The case is public and worth reading if you trade from the United States.
The judgment matters because it shows the US view of an unlicensed offshore derivatives venue. It does not make Bybit illegal to read about, but it explains why the platform blocks US users rather than serve them.
Bybit's current licences by region
Bybit has spent recent years turning regulatory friction into actual licences across several regions. In Dubai it holds a Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority approval, and in October 2025 it secured a full Virtual Asset Platform Operator licence from the UAE Securities and Commodities Authority covering trading, brokerage, custody, and fiat conversion. In the EEA, Bybit EU GmbH holds a Markets in Crypto Assets licence from Austria's Financial Market Authority granted in May 2025, which passports regulated services across EEA states; that entity is the compliant route for European residents.
Elsewhere, Bybit operates under the Astana Financial Services Authority in Kazakhstan, holds a virtual asset registration with the National Bank of Georgia, and registered with India's Financial Intelligence Unit in early 2025 after an enforcement action. Licences change, and a permit in one jurisdiction does not extend to another, so check the specific entity and its register before funding an account.
Markets where Bybit is blocked
The hard exclusions are the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong, and sanctioned territories. Bybit blocks US IP addresses and rejects US identity documents at verification, because serving Americans would require CFTC registration, a FinCEN money services licence, and state money transmitter permits it does not hold. The UK has no Bybit FCA registration; British users are restricted. Ontario barred Bybit in 2022 after an OSC settlement, and Hong Kong listed it as a suspicious platform in 2024.
A note on the EU shift is useful. Where France and other states once warned Bybit as unregistered, the Austrian MiCA licence now covers EEA clients through Bybit EU, a real change from 2024.
The February 2025 hack and how it was handled
In February 2025 attackers linked to North Korea's Lazarus Group stole roughly 1.4 billion dollars of ether from a Bybit cold wallet, the largest crypto exchange theft on record. The breach exploited a third party signing interface rather than Bybit's own core engine. Bybit covered client balances in full from its own reserves within days and published proof of reserves, and independent analysts traced the funds to state sponsored actors. No user lost assets, but the event is the clearest reminder that even a top exchange carries custody risk absent from a bank or a licensed broker.
What Bybit actually lets you trade
For a user in a permitted region, Bybit offers spot trading in hundreds of coins, perpetual and dated futures, options on major coins, and copy trading that mirrors another trader's positions. Earn products pay yield on idle balances, and a unified account lets one balance serve as collateral across products. Leverage, product mix, and fees vary by tier and by entity. None of this includes traditional forex pairs, the fact that separates Bybit from the broker the earlier article described.
Checking Bybit's status before you sign up
Every regulator named here runs a free public register. The UAE's VARA and SCA sites list Bybit's local permissions. Austria's FMA register shows the MiCA licence for Bybit EU GmbH. India's FIU and Kazakhstan's AFSA publish their registered entities. In the US, the CFTC and court dockets hold the 2024 judgment, and no US retail licence appears. Open the account agreement and confirm the entity named in it matches the one on the register.
Questions readers ask about Bybit
Is Bybit a forex broker? No. It is a crypto exchange that started with derivatives and added spot and yield products. It does not offer fiat forex pairs and is not licensed as a forex broker anywhere.
Can US or UK residents use Bybit? No, not through the global platform. Bybit blocks those users, and the UK has no FCA registered Bybit entity. EEA residents use the licensed Bybit EU entity instead.
Was Bybit hacked? Yes, in February 2025, for about 1.4 billion dollars, but all client balances were reimbursed and no user funds were lost. The cause was a third party wallet interface, not the trading engine.
Leverage, custody, and regulatory risk
Crypto derivatives are high risk. Leverage of 100x can wipe an account in a single adverse move, and a perpetual can drift from spot by more than you expect during funding. Custody risk is real even at a large venue, as the 2025 theft showed, though Bybit made clients whole. Regulatory risk is the wildcard: a licence can lapse or a regulator can act, and access in your country can change with little notice. Treat any balance on an exchange as money you can afford to lose, and confirm the current rules with the relevant regulator before you commit.
This article is informational and does not constitute financial, legal, or tax advice. Bybit's licences and country availability change, so verify the present position on the official register or with a qualified adviser before acting, rather than relying on this text.