Bybit wins VARA approval for spot exchange services in Dubai
Published Updated 5 new reports since it was first published
Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority granted Bybit a licence for exchange services that covers spot trading only, while derivatives remain outside the approval. The new coverage also places the licence in context as an active step after an earlier provisional nod, with additional regulatory work still needed before broader services can go live.
What this rests on
What it means
VARA, created in 2022, is the Gulf's first dedicated virtual-asset regulator, built to give Dubai a licensing track separate from the UAE's federal framework. Bybit shifted its operational base to Dubai after quitting less hospitable jurisdictions, and it now joins Binance and OKX in holding a VARA permit, though those two rivals cleared the derivatives hurdle that Bybit has not. That gap defines what this approval actually buys the exchange today.
With the licence active, Bybit can onboard Dubai-based retail and institutional clients into regulated spot markets, running custody, settlement and marketing under VARA's supervision rather than offshore. What it cannot do is list margin, futures or perpetual contracts locally, the products that generate most of its volume; those clients still route through unregulated entities. Binance and OKX, already cleared for derivatives, keep an edge in the business line Bybit actually needs in the emirate.
Bybit frames the licence as proof of a compliance pivot meant to reassure investors after a rocky stretch of exits from stricter markets. The harder question is how much a 'full licence' limited to cash markets really signals about an exchange whose identity is built on leveraged derivatives trading. Calling spot-only approval a compliance milestone is fair, but it understates how much of Bybit's core offering in Dubai still sits outside regulatory scope.
The next marker is VARA's decision on Bybit's pending derivatives application, the approval that would let it match Binance and OKX on their strongest product line in the emirate. Clearance would put Bybit on equal regulatory footing for futures and perpetuals in Dubai; continued delay keeps its highest-volume business routed through less-regulated channels while competitors consolidate their head start in the local derivatives market.
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Has this happened before?
| When | What happened | Figure |
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| 24 days ago | Bybit Completes SOC 2 Type II Audit, Strengthening Security and Compliance Assurance event | 1 actors in common · 2 news media |