Bybit Fintech FZE, the crypto exchange’s Dubai entity, has secured a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) license for exchange services from the emirate’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), Bybit announced on Thursday. The license covers spot trading only.

VARA’s public register now shows the license with the status Active, permitting Bybit to serve retail, qualified and institutional investors. The register lists an issue date of June 20, 2026, which Bybit’s announcement did not mention.

Two years ago, VARA’s register carried a separate record for the same entity. A September 2024 capture of the register showed a license of the same type and activity under a different reference number, issued Aug. 21, 2024, with its status marked Pending. Bybit described that stage at the time as a provisional, non-operational approval.

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Derivatives Not Included

The new license does not extend to derivatives. Peter Loo, Bybit’s chief legal and compliance officer, said the company hopes “to expand our licensed activities to include derivatives, subject to the necessary regulatory approvals.”

“Derivatives are a major part of Bybit’s global trading business,” Loo said in the release, adding that the exchange wants to offer more of its products in Dubai through the regulatory process.

Perpetual futures have come to dominate crypto trading even as overall volumes have slipped, Unchained reported in August.

Co-founder and CEO Ben Zhou called the license “this next step in our journey here,” crediting Dubai with building out its rules for virtual assets.

Licenses Elsewhere

Bybit, which says it has more than 80 million users, set up its international headquarters in Dubai in 2022. The Dubai approval adds to five licenses and regulatory approvals Bybit has collected in 2026, in the European Union, Indonesia, South Africa, El Salvador and the Cayman Islands, which Zhou highlighted in an October keynote, according to the release.

Last month, Bybit began accepting shares of a Franklin Templeton tokenized money market fund as off-exchange collateral.

VARA regulates virtual asset firms in Dubai’s mainland and free zones, with the exception of the Dubai International Financial Centre, according to the regulator’s site.

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