Bybit gets full Dubai VARA licence for spot crypto trading
Bybit's Dubai entity now holds an active VARA licence for exchange services including spot trading, but it must still pass VARA's launch checks first.
CryptoGroup Newsroom · · 2 min read
Crypto exchange Bybit has moved from an in-principle approval to a full licence in Dubai. The company said on Thursday that its local entity, Bybit Fintech FZE, received a virtual asset service provider (VASP) licence from Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) for exchange services, including spot trading, Cointelegraph reports.
What the licence covers
- Scope: exchange services, with spot trading named explicitly.
- Clients: VARA's public register lists the licence as active and covering retail, qualified and institutional investors.
- Upgrade: a Bybit spokesperson told Cointelegraph that the entity's earlier in-principle approval was non-operational and did not allow it to serve anyone in Dubai.
Not live yet
A licence on the register is not the same as an open order book. Bybit says it must still complete VARA's launch process and meet the regulator's operational requirements before switching on spot trading for Dubai users. The exchange did not give a launch date.
Two regulators, one country
The UAE has more than one crypto rulebook. In October 2025 Bybit obtained a full Virtual Asset Platform Operator licence from the federal Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA). That entity, Bybit Virtual Asset Platform Operator LLC, lists Dubai among the places it does not serve, because the emirate has its own regulator: VARA oversees virtual-asset firms in Dubai outside the DIFC financial free zone. Bybit declined to explain how the two approvals differ or whether the SCA licence ever covered Dubai.
Why it matters
Dubai has spent several years courting exchanges with a dedicated crypto regime, and a fully licensed spot venue from one of the largest global exchanges is a notable addition. For Bybit, a local licence also matters for trust: the exchange lost about $1.5 billion in ether to hackers in February 2025, an attack the FBI attributed to North Korea.
For users, licensing changes who supervises the platform, not the basic trade-off of keeping funds on an exchange. Our comparison of centralized vs decentralized exchanges explains what you give up when an exchange holds your coins, and our guide to storing crypto safely covers moving funds off a platform when you are not trading.
This article is for information only and is not financial advice. Crypto assets are volatile; do your own research. Read our disclaimer
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