Bybit, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, looks back at 2025 with highlights of mixed challenges and achievements. The exchange recounts its expansion from 50 million to 80 million registered users, global regulatory and compliance advancements, and trading highs across metrics amid market challenges. In July, Bybit’s Vienna-based operation secured full MiCA compliance across applicable EEA countries via local authorizations in Austria, and in October it received the UAE’s first SCA Virtual Asset Platform Operator License enabling full trading, custody, and fiat services nationwide. Bybit has also relaunched its services in the UK after a two-year hiatus, offering spot and P2P crypto trading for UK users by partnering with FCA-regulated Archax to comply with strict financial promotion rules, providing access to around 100 trading pairs.
In February 2025, Bybit faced a major cyberattack with approximately $1.4 billion in ETH stolen in an incident linked to North Korea’s Lazarus Group. The attack proved to be the ultimate stress test for the exchange as it rose from defense to recovery and growth. The platform ensured zero loss in client funds via its 1:1 reserve guarantee, restored reserves within 72 hours through partners’ support, and processed over 350,000 withdrawal requests in the initial 12 hours. The immediate actions taken not only helped Bybit avert the crisis, but also prevented the potential contagion effects across the crypto ecosystem.
In the aftermath, Bybit recovered BTC liquidity to $13 million daily in 30 days, surpassing industry benchmarks per Kaiko. In a report by Glassnode, ETH’s trading volume on Bybit reached a new daily all-time high of $8.5 billion despite the hack, reflecting the unwavering community trust and Bybit’s operational resilience and financial depth. The breach also prompted Bybit’s security taskforce to evolve and build towards a new infrastructure that contributes to industry-wide safety, with a slew of over 50 security upgrades after 9 security audits within a month, establishing new trust benchmarks, and the Lazarus Bounty program inviting experts to join the hunt and potentially help other victims of crypto-related cybercrime. Bybit Spot advanced its early-access listing strategy, expanded into real-world assets with XAUT and xStocks, and unleashed up to $40 million in total rewards through projects like NXPC and NIGHT to mobilize market momentum for traders.
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