This is not financial advice.
Historical update: this article originally covered a Bybit executive’s appearance at iFX Expo in January 2025.
The old version was mostly event marketing: a panel about AI, DeFi, tokenization and “evergreen” trading strategies, followed by product promotion and a large corporate biography.
The most important thing it failed to ask was simpler: which legal entity is actually providing the product to the customer?
A conference stage is not a regulatory status
The 2025 article said Bybit had a “new MetaTrader-5 license” and then discussed access to gold, forex and crypto with high leverage. That wording blurred software access, product availability and regulatory authorization.
MetaTrader 5 is a trading platform. Using it does not by itself tell you which company is your counterparty, which regulator supervises that company or whether every instrument shown in the interface falls under the same permissions.
Bybit’s UAE position changed after this article
In February 2025, Bybit announced that it had received in-principle approval from the UAE Securities and Commodities Authority, the predecessor to today’s Capital Market Authority, to establish a Virtual Asset Platform Operator.
That was not a full operational licence at the time. Bybit’s own announcement explicitly said it was still working toward full approval.
By December 2025, Bybit announced that it had secured a full Virtual Asset Platform Operator licence. Its current UAE terms identify the legal entity as Bybit Virtual Asset Platform Operator – L.L.C – S.P.C, incorporated in Abu Dhabi, and state that it is regulated by the UAE Capital Market Authority under licence number 20200000337.
Those are Bybit’s current legal disclosures. Before funding an account, verify the entity and current licence status against the regulator’s own public information and confirm that the specific service you intend to use is covered.
One Bybit brand can involve different services and rules
A global platform can operate through multiple legal entities. The brand on the website or app is not enough to establish your regulatory protection.
Check the entity named in your Terms of Service, the product-specific terms, eligibility restrictions and the regulator attached to that entity. Do not assume that spot crypto, derivatives, fiat services, P2P or another product automatically share identical permissions or recourse.
The Robius takeaway
The January 2025 panel discussion about AI and tokenization is now mostly historical color.
The durable consumer question is the one the old article skipped: who exactly are you contracting with, and what is that entity allowed to provide?
Source: Bybit, UAE in-principle approval announcement, February 27, 2025 — https://www.bybit.com/press/post/bybit-receives-in-principle-approval-to-establish-virtual-asset-platform-in-the-united-arab-emirates-blt2f7769246ce47265
Source: Bybit, full VAPO licence announcement, December 9, 2025 — https://www.bybit.com/en/press/post/bybit-institutional-sets-the-stage-for-2026-at-high-profile-abu-dhabi-gala-bltc3a991f97e7d4d19
Source: Bybit UAE Terms of Service, checked September 2026 — https://www.bybit.com/common-static/compliance/legal/BYBIT/b2e1c94c53ee5e12e165919de919337e.pdf
Regulator reference: UAE Capital Market Authority open data — https://www.uaecma.gov.ae/en/open-data.aspx
Robius.news — Dubai, UAE — 2026 | Built to be first. Built to be trusted.
