Crypto exchange Bybit said on Thursday its unit Bybit Fintech FZE has secured a licence from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) for exchange services covering spot trading.

The Bybit VARA licence is a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) authorisation, the company said in a statement. Spot trading is the buying and selling of assets for immediate delivery.

Bybit says it serves more than 80 million users worldwide and set up its international headquarters in Dubai in 2022.

“Dubai has made significant progress in building a regulatory environment for virtual assets,” Bybit co-founder and Chief Executive Ben Zhou said in the statement. He said the company would continue working in Dubai and build its business in line with VARA’s standards.

Peter Loo, Bybit’s chief legal and compliance officer, said the company hopes in time to add derivatives to its licensed activities in Dubai, subject to regulatory approvals. He described derivatives as a major part of Bybit’s global trading business.

Derivatives are contracts whose value depends on an underlying asset, such as a cryptocurrency. The licence announced on Thursday does not cover them.

Loo said a healthy digital asset market needs strong oversight, sound risk management and a commitment to protecting users.

Wider regulatory push

Bybit said the Dubai licence is part of a broader effort to build its business in each market in line with local requirements. The company said it continues to invest in compliance, security and risk management.

In an October keynote, Zhou highlighted five licences and regulatory approvals Bybit obtained in 2026 across the European Union, the Cayman Islands, Indonesia, South Africa and El Salvador.

Bybit said strong regulatory relationships and locally compliant services are important to building lasting trust with users and market participants.

Presence in Dubai

Since establishing its international headquarters in Dubai, Bybit has taken part in the emirate’s blockchain and Web3 ecosystem through industry engagement, partnerships and initiatives, the company said.

Bybit said it intends to build on its presence in Dubai, working with relevant stakeholders and developing its services in line with regulatory requirements.

The company described Dubai’s regulatory framework and international reach as key to the development of digital assets.

Bybit has previously been granted a virtual asset licence in Dubai on an in-principle basis, under the emirate’s “test-adapt-scale” model, according to FinanceFeeds. Finance Magnates reported that an earlier preliminary licence from VARA did not allow Bybit to provide crypto trading services.

In September 2024, Bybit announced a provisional, non-operational approval from VARA for virtual asset exchange services, which it described as a milestone toward full operational approval in Dubai.

VARA’s public register lists Bybit Fintech FZE for exchange services, with a licence reference dated August 2024. The entry showed a licence status of “pending” when reviewed ahead of publication. It was not clear whether the register had been updated to reflect Thursday’s announcement.

Bybit has separately said it holds a Virtual Asset Platform Operator Licence from the UAE’s Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA), according to Yahoo Finance. The SCA regime applies across the UAE mainland and is wider in scope than VARA’s framework, the report said.

Industry outlet Unlock Blockchain reported that it was unclear how the VARA and SCA regimes would align for Bybit, and that it had received no comment from the regulators or the exchange when it published.

Bybit also said it would set up a regional operations centre in Abu Dhabi and build a workforce of more than 500 employees across Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

In earlier statements, Bybit has described itself as the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume.