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Bybit's Dubai licence covers spot trading only. What it means in Pakistan

Dubai's regulator has given Bybit a full licence, but only for spot exchange services, not the derivatives the platform is known for. In Pakistan, where Bybit is one of the two P2P venues behind our live rupee price, no crypto platform is licensed yet.

Ammar Khan

Ammar Khan

3 min read
The Dubai skyline at night, with the Burj Khalifa above lit office towers and highways.
Photo by ZQ Lee on Unsplash

Key takeaways

  • Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) issued Bybit Fintech FZE licence VL/26/10/003 on 20 October. It covers exchange services only and lets Bybit serve retail clients in Dubai.
  • Binance's and OKX's Dubai licences cover exchange services "including VA Derivatives Trading". Bybit's does not, and Bybit says it will need further approval for derivatives.
  • VARA's record ties the licence to Bybit's UAE website, bybit.com/ae.
  • In Pakistan, PVARA's licensing page named no licensee on 24 October. Derivatives are a separate licence category under PVARA's rules.

Bybit announced on 21 October that its Dubai company, Bybit Fintech FZE, had received a virtual asset service provider licence from VARA "for Exchange Services, covering spot trading". Bybit has had its international headquarters in Dubai since 2022.

The approval took three years. Bybit received a preliminary licence from VARA in June 2023 and a provisional one in September 2024, and neither allowed it to trade with clients, Blockhead reported.

What the register shows

VARA's record for Bybit, read on 24 October, lists:

  • Licence: VL/26/10/003, a full VASP licence, issued 20 October 2026, status active.
  • Licensed activity: exchange services.
  • Condition: "Permitted to serve Institutional Investors, Qualified Investors and Retail Investors."
  • Website: bybit.com/ae.

The full licence is what allows Bybit to serve clients. VARA's register says firms with only an in-principle approval are "strictly prohibited" from doing so.

Spot, not derivatives

The licence's scope is the main point. Two of Bybit's biggest rivals hold wider Dubai licences. On the same register:

  • Binance FZE (VL/24/04/001, since April 2024) is licensed for "Exchange Services (including VA Derivatives Trading)", plus broking, lending and investment management.
  • OKX Middle East (VL/23/12/003, since September 2024) carries the same derivatives wording.
  • Bybit Fintech FZE is licensed for exchange services only.

Bybit says derivatives are next. "In time, we also hope to expand our licensed activities to include derivatives, subject to the necessary regulatory approvals," said Peter Loo, its chief legal and compliance officer. He called derivatives "a major part of Bybit's global trading business".

Why Pakistani readers should care

Bybit matters here. It is one of the two P2P markets, with Binance, that feed the live rupee price on our USDT/PKR premium tracker.

But the Dubai licence is a Dubai licence. VARA's record names Bybit Fintech FZE and its UAE site. It says nothing about users in Pakistan, and a Dubai licence is not a Pakistani one.

At home, the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA) has licensed no one. Its licensing page named no licensee when we read it on 24 October. PVARA's chairman said this month that it had received 75 applications, but PVARA has not said who filed them, as we reported. We cannot say whether Bybit is among them.

PVARA treats derivatives as a separate business. Its licensing page lists "Exchange Services" and "Virtual Asset Derivatives Services" as separate licence categories. A firm licensed to run a spot exchange in Pakistan would need another licence to offer futures. Our explainer on how PVARA treats retail crypto futures sets out those rules.

What this means for Pakistani users

  • Check what a licence covers, not just that it exists. "Licensed in Dubai" can mean spot trading only. VARA's register lists the activities for every firm.
  • Your residency decides which rules apply. A Pakistani living in Dubai who uses Bybit's UAE platform is dealing with a VARA-licensed firm. A user in Pakistan is on a platform with no Pakistani licence, and no Pakistani regulator supervises it.
  • Futures carry the most risk. Bybit's Dubai licence leaves out derivatives, the product it is best known for. Leveraged trading can wipe out a deposit quickly.
  • Ad rules follow the licence. From 21 October, Google lets VARA-licensed exchanges advertise to people in the UAE, as our piece on crypto ad rules explains. Those rules do not list Pakistan.

CryptoPakistan has no affiliate or referral arrangement with Bybit, Binance, OKX or any exchange.

What we're watching

  • Whether VARA approves derivatives for Bybit, as it has for Binance and OKX.
  • Whether PVARA publishes its list of applicants, and whether Bybit is on it.
  • The first entry on PVARA's public register of licensees.

Sources

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