Bybit Secures First Full Dubai Spot Trading License
Key Takeaways
- •Bybit's Dubai-registered entity, Bybit Fintech FZE, has received a virtual asset service provider license from Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), authorizing exchange services including spot trading.
- •The new full license supersedes Bybit's earlier in-principle approval, which was non-operational and did not allow the company to serve customers in Dubai.
- •Spot trading services cannot go live until Bybit completes VARA's launch process and satisfies operational requirements, and the company has not provided a launch timeline.
- •Once operational, the license will enable Bybit to serve retail, qualified, and institutional investors in Dubai.
- •The VARA approval follows Bybit's October 2025 federal license from the UAE's Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA), whose service restrictions excluded Dubai from the jurisdictions it covered.
Crypto exchange Bybit has secured a full license for spot trading services in Dubai, advancing beyond the in-principle approval its local entity previously held in the emirate.
Bybit said on Thursday that its Dubai-registered entity, Bybit Fintech FZE, has received a virtual asset service provider (VASP) license from Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), authorizing the firm to conduct exchange services, including spot trading. VARA, established in March 2022 under Dubai Law No. 4 of 2022, is the emirate's dedicated regulator for virtual asset activities.
A Bybit spokesperson told Cointelegraph that the entity's previous in-principle approval was non-operational and did not permit the company to serve customers in Dubai. The new license is now listed as active on VARA's public register, allowing the exchange to provide services to retail, qualified and institutional investors.
Despite the license's active status, the spokesperson said Bybit must still complete VARA's launch process and satisfy operational requirements before spot trading services can go live. The company did not provide a launch date or a timeline for completing the remaining steps, so spot trading for Dubai customers remains unavailable for now, with VARA's public register and future company updates the places to watch for confirmation of when services begin.
The approval follows Bybit's earlier receipt of a full Virtual Asset Platform Operator license from the United Arab Emirates' federal regulator, the Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA), in October 2025. That federal license, however, carries service restrictions that exclude Dubai from the jurisdictions served by the SCA-licensed entity, Bybit Virtual Asset Platform Operator LLC.
Dubai operates its own virtual asset regulatory framework, separate from the UAE's federal regime, meaning firms must secure emirate-level approval to serve customers in the emirate. For exchanges operating across the country, that split means federal authorization and a VARA license cover different territories, which is why a firm can hold a full federal approval while remaining unable to serve Dubai customers.
The spokesperson declined to comment on how the newly granted VARA license differs from the SCA approval, or on whether the earlier federal license permitted services within Dubai.
