Bybit said its Dubai entity, Bybit Fintech FZE, has secured a Virtual Asset Service Provider licence from Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) for Exchange Services, which covers spot trading. The exchange says it serves more than 80 million users and set up its international headquarters in Dubai in 2022. CEO Ben Zhou said in the announcement:
"Dubai has made significant progress in building a regulatory environment for virtual assets, and we are pleased to take this next step in our journey here."
VARA's public register lists Bybit Fintech FZE as an active VASP under reference VL/26/10/003. It names Exchange Services as the authorized activity and allows service to retail, qualified and institutional investors.
A major milestone for Bybit in Dubai 🇦🇪
— Bybit (@Bybit_Official) October 22, 2026
We’ve secured a VASP licence from VARA, strengthening our long-term commitment to the emirate’s digital asset ecosystem.
Read more: https://t.co/VHRrDAAHTx pic.twitter.com/WD3XFvef3V
What the licence does not cover
The approval is limited to spot trading. Bybit said it does not include derivatives trading. Chief Legal and Compliance Officer Peter Loo said the company hopes to add that later:
"In time, we also hope to expand our licensed activities to include derivatives, subject to the necessary regulatory approvals."
He called derivatives a major part of Bybit's global trading business.
VARA's framework sorts crypto firms into activity types, such as exchange services, broker-dealer services, lending and custody, and requires a separate approval for each. Any derivatives permission would therefore be a new application. Bybit has given no timeline.
Two years from provisional approval
In September 2024, Bybit received a provisional, non-operational VASP approval from Dubai's Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA). Following this, VARA recorded the official license issue date as June 20, 2026, and Bybit publicly announced securing its full, operational VASP license later that year on October 22, 2026.
Bybit already holds a federal licence for the wider UAE. The Securities and Commodities Authority gave it a Virtual Asset Platform Operator License in October 2025, covering the UAE mainland and applying outside Dubai's jurisdiction. The SCA and VARA announced a partnership in August 2025 that includes licensing reciprocity. The VARA licence is a separate approval for Dubai itself.
Where rivals stand in Dubai
Competitors got there earlier. Binance FZE has held a full VARA licence since April 2024, covering exchange, broker-dealer and lending services. OKX Middle East Fintech FZE received conditional approval in January 2024 and full operational status in October 2024.
A busy licensing year
The Dubai licence follows what Bybit calls a broader run of approvals. In an October keynote, Zhou cited five new licences and regulatory approvals in 2026, across the European Union, the Cayman Islands, Indonesia, South Africa and El Salvador.
Several of those can be traced. Austria's financial regulator granted Bybit Payments GmbH an electronic money institution licence on Aug. 4, 2026. In April, Bybit bought a majority stake in PT Enkripsi Teknologi Handal, which held an OJK licence for the NOBI exchange. The business was renamed Bybit Indonesia and began operating under OJK supervision in July.
The EU base is older. Bybit EU GmbH holds an authorisation from Austria's FMA dated May 28, 2025. European customers contract with that entity, not with the global platform.
More are planned. Bybit also plans MiFID-related licences in the EU, with further approvals in Brazil, Turkey and Hong Kong. The company has not said when any of them might arrive. In Dubai, the next step depends on VARA's decision on derivatives.
Gunel Ismayilova
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