Updated Rules checked 2026-10-13
On 2025-02-21, 401,346 ETH (about USD 1.5 billion) was stolen from Bybit, the largest of the 8 exchange thefts compiled on this site. Bybit said client assets remained backed 1:1 and withdrawals continued as normal, and within about 72 hours it replaced roughly 447,000 ETH through emergency loans, large deposits and purchases. Its latest proof of reserves is the 2026-09-23 snapshot, verified by the security firm Hacken, with reserve ratios of 104% for BTC, 103% for ETH and 110% for USDT.
Bybit has no automatic exchange rebate. This extra rebate is paid by Fee Otter, not by the exchange and not by Kevin Wu; the rate is whatever Fee Otter's page shows (checked 2026-10-22).
On fees, regular users (VIP 0) pay 0.1% for both spot Maker and Taker, and 0.02% Maker / 0.055% Taker on futures; paying fees with MNT takes 25% off spot and 10% off futures. Bybit differs from most exchanges in one way: if you sign up with a referral code, the exchange doesn’t refund any fees to you as the invitee, so to get fees back you need a rebate site. What users in Taiwan should know: Bybit is not on the anti-money laundering (AML) registration list of Taiwan’s Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), and when I checked P2P there were no New Taiwan dollar (TWD) listings.
This review gives no star rating. It puts the data on fees, rebate channels, reserves, security and regulatory records, restricted regions and products in one place, each with its source and date. How to get a rebate on Bybit is covered in Bybit fee rebate: getting fees back with Fee Otter.
Key points: Bybit’s VIP 0 spot fee is 0.1% for Maker and Taker, and futures are 0.02% Maker and 0.055% Taker; with the MNT discount on, spot drops to 0.075% and futures Taker to 0.0495%. Bybit’s referral program gives invitees a welcome gift and task rewards; it doesn’t say officially that invitees get any share of fees back as a rebate. On 2025-02-21, 401,346 ETH (about USD 1.5 billion) was stolen from Bybit; the FBI attributed it to North Korea, and Bybit said withdrawals continued as normal and client assets remained backed 1:1. Proof-of-reserves report no. 40 of 2026-09-23 shows reserve ratios of 104% for BTC, 103% for ETH and 110% for USDT, verified by Hacken. Bybit’s list of service-restricted countries (2026-09-01 version) doesn’t include Taiwan; but Bybit is not on the FSC’s AML registration list (the Securities and Futures Bureau’s 2026-09-29 list).
The data below was checked against official pages on 2026-10-13 (data check date) and is provided for reference.
What are Bybit’s fees?
| Market (VIP 0) | Maker | Taker | With MNT discount (Maker / Taker) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spot (crypto-to-crypto pairs) | 0.1% | 0.1% | 0.075% / 0.075% | Fee is deducted from the coin you buy |
| Fiat-to-crypto pairs | 0.15% | 0.2% | — | 30-day volume below USD 100,000 |
| USDT-margined futures (USDT and USDC perpetuals and expiry) | 0.02% | 0.055% | 0.018% / 0.0495% | Charged on trade value |
| Inverse futures (coin-margined) | 0.02% | 0.055% | Not applicable | Fees are charged in the underlying coin |
| Options | 0.02% | 0.03% | Not listed in the MNT explainer | — |
Sources: Bybit trading fee structure (official page updated 2026-09-02), Bybit FAQ on paying fees with MNT, checked on 2026-10-11. Bybit states that actual rates may vary by region and that your own account’s “My Fee Rates” page is what counts. Two rules specific to Bybit: no liquidation fee is charged when perpetual or expiry futures are liquidated, and the MNT discount doesn’t apply to inverse contracts, trading bots, copy trading, API orders or liquidation orders (Bybit fee overview).
Futures fees are charged on position value: with 1,000 USDT of margin at 10x, the position is 10,000 USDT, so a market order to open and another to close cost 5.5 USDT each, 11 USDT in total, or 1.1% of your margin; with Maker orders on both sides it’s 4 USDT. The higher the leverage, the more you pay in fees on the same margin, and a small move against you can get the position liquidated. VIP 1 requires USD 100,000 in assets, or 30-day volume of USD 1 million in spot or USD 10 million in futures, twice OKX’s futures threshold; once there, futures Taker drops to 0.04% (Bybit VIP program introduction).
Here is the same trader at three large exchanges: 200,000 USDT a month in USDT-margined futures and 20,000 USDT in spot, all at VIP 0 rates:
| Monthly fees (USDT) | Binance | Binance (BNB discount) | OKX | Bybit | Bybit (MNT discount) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Futures 200,000, all Taker | 100 | 90 | 100 | 110 | 99 |
| Spot 20,000, all Taker | 20 | 15 | 20 | 20 | 15 |
| Total (all Taker) | 120 | 105 | 120 | 130 | 114 |
| Total (all switched to Maker) | 60 | 51 | 56 | 60 | 51 |
Each figure is trading volume times the VIP 0 rate, for example 200,000 × 0.05% = 100 USDT and 200,000 × 0.055% = 110 USDT. Rate sources: Binance spot fee page, Binance futures fee explainer, OKX fee page, Bybit trading fee structure (checked on 2026-10-11). Platform-token discounts require holding BNB or MNT, and their price swings are your own risk; on Bybit, if your MNT isn’t enough to cover a whole fee, the entire fee is charged at the regular rate.
On official rates alone, Bybit costs 10 USDT a month more than Binance and OKX, a gap that comes from the 0.005 percentage point difference in futures Taker. With the MNT discount on, it’s 114 USDT, less than Binance and OKX without a discount. Full rates are in Bybit fees, you can run your own volume through the futures cost calculator, and the math behind futures fees is in how futures fees are calculated.
How much is the Bybit referral rebate, and has it changed?
Looking at the exchange alone, Bybit has no invitee rebate. The Bybit referral program FAQ (updated 2026-10-10) says referrers earn commission on their invitees’ fees, while invitees get a welcome gift and task rewards; it doesn’t say invitees get any share of fees back as a rebate, so there’s no history of an exchange rebate rate to track either.
To get fees back, you need a rebate site. Rebate sites work through Bybit’s affiliate program, where commission is based on “trading fees − market maker rebates − bonuses/coupons” (Bybit affiliate program FAQ, updated 2026-09-19), and the rebate site passes part of that commission on to you. Fee Otter‘s rebate page lists Bybit at 40% (checked 2026-10-11). All of it is an extra rebate from Fee Otter, paid by Fee Otter, not by the exchange or by Kevin Wu. The rate may change; go by Fee Otter’s page at the time.
| Scenario (VIP 0) | Monthly volume | Fees | Fee Otter 40% | Actual cost | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Futures, all market orders | 300,000 USDT | 165 USDT | 66 USDT | 99 USDT | 0.033% |
| Futures, all Maker orders | 300,000 USDT | 60 USDT | 24 USDT | 36 USDT | 0.012% |
| Spot | 50,000 USDT | 50 USDT | 20 USDT | 30 USDT | 0.06% |
The math: fees = monthly volume × official VIP 0 rate; rebate = fees × 40%; actual cost = fees − rebate. After the rebate, futures Taker works out to about 0.033%, lower even than Bybit’s VIP 1 rate of 0.04%. Keep in mind that this money sits in your Fee Otter account, not your Bybit account: Fee Otter settles daily, reviews withdrawals manually and pays within 3 business days, with up to 5 withdrawals a month, and you carry the risk that a third party changes its rate or stops operating. Bybit doesn’t state whether turning on the MNT discount affects the rebate; its affiliate program FAQ says users who receive other discounts “may not contribute” to an affiliate’s commission, so if that matters to you, ask Fee Otter first.
At Bybit’s level, affiliate commission is stated to be lifetime, but the relationship may end if a user doesn’t trade for 180 days in a row. If you already have an account: a main account registered within the last 14 days with no referrer can add an affiliate’s code itself, and that can’t be undone (Bybit guide to adding and checking an affiliate code). After 14 days, only accounts registered after 2025-09-01 with less than USD 1 of trading volume over 180 consecutive days can be reassigned. Sign-up, UID binding and withdrawal steps are in how to get a Bybit fee rebate, and the rules for adding or switching a code are in switching your Bybit referral code.
Does Bybit have proof of reserves?
Yes. Recently it has been published monthly, verified by the security firm Hacken, and covers the top 50 tokens by assets under management on the platform (Bybit proof of reserves page). The figures for the latest report:
| Item | Report no. 40 (2026-09-23 03:00 UTC) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| BTC reserve ratio | 104% | Users 56,131 BTC, platform 58,721 BTC, a surplus of 2,590 BTC |
| ETH reserve ratio | 103% | — |
| USDT reserve ratio | 110% | — |
| Verification report | Hacken, issued 2026-09-29 | Reserve ratios for all 50 coins are shown as 100% or higher |
| Self-verification | Merkle tree | View your Merkle path on the Verify My Account page, or verify myProof.json with Bybit’s official GitHub code |
Sources: Bybit press release (2026-09-30), Hacken verification report, Bybit asset verification guide. Bybit also states that accounts opened after an audit, or holding none of the audited tokens, won’t have a matching audit record. Read alongside the 2025 theft: at the time, Bybit closed the roughly USD 1.5 billion gap through loans and purchases, and a later PoR verified by Hacken showed reserve ratios above 100% for its main assets. PoR still reflects only the moment of the snapshot and doesn’t show the company’s own liabilities. A comparison across exchanges is in exchange proof of reserves compared.
What security or withdrawal incidents has Bybit had?
In chronological order, including only records from official announcements, major media and regulators:
- 2021-05-28, 2023-03-31 and 2024-11-28: Japan’s Financial Services Agency issued Bybit warnings three times for operating without registration (2024 warning).
- 2024-12-27: Malaysia’s Securities Commission ordered Bybit to disable its local website and app within 14 business days, and Bybit complied (Securities Commission Malaysia).
- 2025-01-31: India’s Financial Intelligence Unit fined Bybit INR 92.7 million for operating without registration; Bybit had suspended its India business from January 12 and resumed on 2025-02-25 after registering (Cointelegraph).
- February 2025: Japan’s Financial Services Agency asked Apple and Google to remove the apps of 5 exchanges, including Bybit, in Japan (The Defiant).
- 2025-02-21: an ETH multisig cold wallet was tampered with during a transfer to a warm wallet, and 401,346 ETH was stolen. On 2025-02-26 the FBI announced that North Korea was behind the roughly USD 1.5 billion theft (FBI IC3 announcement). CEO Ben Zhou said client assets remained backed 1:1 and withdrawals were operating normally (Fintech News); Bybit obtained about 447,000 ETH through emergency loans, large deposits and purchases to close the gap (The Block, CNBC report).
- 2025-06-28: Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission announced it would block 5 unlicensed platforms, including OKX, Bybit and XT, from this date (The Block).
- August 2025: the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission named 10 unregistered platforms including Bybit, and telecom operators then blocked them (Cointelegraph).
- 2026-06-29 and 2026-07-24: Bybit announced that it would gradually restrict some services for residents of the European Economic Area (EEA announcement), and explained that users in Japan keep only Convert, crypto withdrawals and fiat withdrawals (Japan announcement).
Set against the other 7 exchange thefts, Bybit’s case differs in two ways: it is the only one of the 8 where a cold wallet was hit (the others were hot wallets, warm wallets or platform wallets of unstated type), and the only one where the exchange said withdrawals kept operating normally. At about USD 1.5 billion, the loss exceeded the roughly USD 1 billion in Binance’s SAFU fund; Bybit made it up through loans and purchases, and while compiling this I found no separate user protection fund at Bybit. Full records are in exchange safety records.
Which countries can’t use Bybit?
Bybit’s service-restricted countries page (updated 2026-09-01) cites section 11.3 of the Bybit platform terms. The regions it doesn’t serve are: the United States, mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Canada, North Korea, Cuba, Iran, Uzbekistan, Russian-controlled regions of Ukraine (the page currently lists Crimea, Donetsk, Rostov and Luhansk), Sevastopol, Sudan and Syria. Dubai applies only to Bybit’s UAE operating entity (Bybit Virtual Asset Platform Operator LLC). Individuals in Seychelles are also restricted, except for international business companies set up under the local 2016 act.
Taiwan isn’t on the list. Three regions outside the list also deserve attention: under the 2026-07-24 announcement, users in Japan keep only Convert (into BTC, ETH or USDC only) and withdrawals; some services for European Economic Area residents are being phased out under the 2026-06-29 announcement; and in Malaysia, the Securities Commission ordered Bybit in 2024 to disable its local website and app. The blocks in Thailand and the Philippines aren’t on the list either. Restricted regions for 13 exchanges are compared in exchange restricted countries.
What products does Bybit offer?
| Product | Bybit data | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Spot | 391 spot coins trading (2026-10-13) | Bybit spot API |
| Perpetual futures | 795 USDT perpetuals (2026-10-13); the settlement interval depends on the pair, and on 2026-10-12, 48% of USDT perpetuals settled every 4 hours | Bybit USDT-margined futures API |
| Funding rate cap | ±0.333% for BTC; settlement switches to hourly once the cap or floor is hit | Bybit funding rate introduction |
| Copy trading | Classic copy trading supports only USDT perpetuals; profit share is 10% to 15% depending on the lead trader’s level (Cadet and Bronze 10%, Silver 12%, Gold 15%), withheld daily and settled every Monday at 11:00, minimum 100 USDT; there are also Copy Trading Pro and TradFi copy trading | Copy trading introduction, profit sharing explained |
| Trading bots | Spot grid, futures grid, DCA, Martingale, combo strategies | Trading bots page |
| Options and TradFi | Options Maker 0.02%, Taker 0.03%; TradFi perpetuals and contracts for difference (CFDs) | Verification level permissions |
| Earn | Flexible USDT: 6.87% on the first 200 USDT, 1.87% on the rest (2026-10-13); also Launchpool and Launchpad; the Bybit Card requires advanced individual verification | Bybit Earn API, Bybit Earn |
Bybit’s strength is derivatives: 795 USDT perpetuals, about 60% more than OKX’s 485. Its advertised Earn rate depends on tiers: 6.87% applies only to the first 200 USDT, so 1,000 USDT earns about 2.87% overall and 10,000 USDT about 1.97%; above roughly 1,887 USDT of principal, the overall annual rate falls below Binance’s untiered 2.40% flexible rate. Copy trading costs also need working out: copy trades are usually orders that fill immediately, so you pay Taker at 0.055%, and the MNT discount doesn’t apply to followers. Copying a trader who makes 40 round trips a month with 1,000 USDT at 5x leverage costs 220 USDT in fees alone. Details are in copy trading costs, what is the funding rate and USDT flexible savings rates compared.
What should users in Taiwan know about Bybit?
- Registration status: the list in the Securities and Futures Bureau’s section on businesses and persons providing virtual asset services, updated 2026-09-29, shows 11 businesses that have completed AML registration, and Bybit is not on the FSC’s AML registration list. Explaining the FTX collapse on 2022-11-23, the FSC noted that offshore trading platforms are not covered by the dispute-handling mechanisms of the Securities and Futures Investors Protection Center or the Financial Ombudsman Institution (FSC statement); if your account is frozen or withdrawals are restricted, you can only follow the platform’s terms.
- TWD deposits and withdrawals: this site found no TWD bank deposit channel. When I checked Bybit P2P on 2026-10-13, there were 0 USDT buy offers and 0 sell offers in TWD, and TWD isn’t in the P2P fee table either (Bybit P2P fees explained). The usual route is to buy USDT with TWD on a domestic platform (such as MAX or BitoPro) and transfer it to Bybit, then do the reverse to cash out.
- USDT transfer networks: on 2026-10-12, Bybit’s USDT withdrawal fees were 0 on Plasma, 0.15 on BEP20, 1.3 on TRC20 and 0.8 USDT on ERC20 (Bybit deposit and withdrawal status page). The cheapest route to MAX is Aptos (0.002 USDT; no official minimum withdrawal is listed, so confirm it on the withdrawal page), and the cheapest route to BitoPro is Polygon (0.07 USDT). Transfers to other Bybit accounts go through internal transfer free of charge. Full figures are in USDT withdrawal fees compared.
- Identity verification: every product and service requires at least Standard individual verification. Unverified accounts can’t deposit or trade but can still withdraw, up to 20,000 USDT a day and 100,000 USDT a month; after Standard verification the limit is 1 million USDT a day. Each person can have only one verified account (Bybit individual KYC FAQ, Bybit verification level permissions).
- Official channels: the official domain is bybit.com. When I checked, the Bybit app was available on Taiwan’s App Store, with Bybit Fintech Limited as the developer and a Traditional Chinese interface; on Google Play the developer is shown as Bybit. Suspicious phone numbers, emails, URLs or social media accounts can be checked through Bybit’s official verification channel. Impersonation tactics are covered in crypto exchange scam types.
- Possible changes ahead: the FSC’s plan of 2026-08-04 says the Travel Rule is expected to extend to transfers between domestic and offshore providers by the end of 2027 (FSC press release), so the process for moving coins from a domestic platform to an offshore exchange may change.
Who is Bybit a good fit for?
- People who mainly trade perpetual futures, often on lesser-known coins: 795 USDT perpetuals, the most of the three, and no extra liquidation fee if you’re liquidated.
- People who want to trade TradFi products such as gold and forex in the same account: Bybit has TradFi perpetuals, CFDs and TradFi copy trading.
- People willing to get fees back through a rebate site: after the 40% listed by Fee Otter, futures Taker works out to about 0.033%, but the money is paid by a third party, and you need to sign up separately, bind your UID and request withdrawals.
- People putting small amounts into Earn: 6.87% on the first 200 USDT, and the larger the amount, the closer the overall annual rate gets to 1.87%.
- Less suitable for: people who just want to use a referral code and have the exchange refund fees directly (Bybit has no invitee rebate), and people who mainly place spot Maker orders (VIP 0 spot Maker is 0.1%, versus 0.08% at OKX).
Frequently asked questions
Is Bybit safe?
No exchange can be called completely safe. Here is Bybit’s record: on 2025-02-21, 401,346 ETH (about USD 1.5 billion) was stolen, the largest theft compiled on this site; Bybit said client assets remained backed 1:1 and withdrawals continued as normal, and it closed the gap. The 2026-09-23 proof of reserves, verified by Hacken, shows a BTC reserve ratio of 104% and USDT of 110%. This site found no separate user protection fund at Bybit.
Is Bybit a scam?
Bybit itself is not a scam; it is an exchange in actual operation: the official site is bybit.com, the app is available on Taiwan’s App Store with Bybit Fintech Limited as the developer, and its proof of reserves is verified by Hacken. Bybit also made up the ETH stolen in 2025 within about 72 hours. What people online call a “Bybit scam” is usually a fake website, fake app, fake customer support or fake investment group using Bybit’s name. The usual demands are to add someone on LINE, to transfer USDT to a “platform” outside the exchange, or to pay an “unfreezing fee” or “security deposit” before you can withdraw. Suspicious phone numbers, emails, URLs or social media accounts can be checked through Bybit’s official verification channel. Not being a scam doesn’t mean there’s no risk: Bybit is not on the FSC’s AML registration list, and any dispute can only be handled under the platform’s terms. Impersonation tactics are covered in crypto exchange scam types, and rebate-related scams in rebate scam warning signs.
Can I still use Bybit after the hack?
Yes. Bybit kept operating after the 2025-02-21 theft and said withdrawals were processed as normal. According to CNBC, Bybit replaced nearly 447,000 ETH in under 72 hours through emergency loans and large deposits, and a later PoR verified by Hacken showed reserve ratios above 100% for its main assets; the latest PoR snapshot is from 2026-09-23.
Which country is Bybit based in?
The official and regulatory sources cited on this site don’t state the country where Bybit is headquartered, so this answer lists only what can be confirmed: the developer of the Bybit app on Taiwan’s App Store is Bybit Fintech Limited, and Bybit’s service-restriction page states that Dubai applies only to its UAE operating entity, Bybit Virtual Asset Platform Operator LLC.
Could Bybit collapse?
No data can predict whether an exchange will go under; all you can look at are the public figures. In 2025 Bybit absorbed a theft of about USD 1.5 billion, made up the loss through loans and purchases, and kept operating; its 2026-09-23 PoR shows BTC, ETH and USDT reserve ratios all above 100%. PoR doesn’t show the company’s own liabilities, and if something went wrong at the platform, Taiwan’s Securities and Futures Investors Protection Center and Financial Ombudsman Institution couldn’t help, so it isn’t advisable to keep all the assets you aren’t actively trading on a single exchange.
Can I use Bybit in Taiwan?
Bybit’s list of service-restricted countries (2026-09-01 version) doesn’t include Taiwan, and the app is available on Taiwan’s App Store. But Bybit is not on the FSC’s AML registration list (the Securities and Futures Bureau’s 2026-09-29 list), so in a dispute, Taiwan’s Securities and Futures Investors Protection Center and Financial Ombudsman Institution don’t apply. Every product and service requires Standard individual verification first.
Can I withdraw from Bybit to a bank account in Taiwan?
This site found no channel for withdrawing from Bybit directly to a bank in Taiwan, and when I checked on 2026-10-13, P2P had no TWD listings either. The usual route is to transfer USDT to a domestic platform (such as MAX or BitoPro), sell it for TWD and withdraw; the cheapest route to MAX is Aptos, and to BitoPro it’s Polygon.
Does a Bybit referral code come with a fee rebate?
No. Bybit’s referral program gives invitees a welcome gift and task rewards; it doesn’t say officially that invitees get any share of fees back as a rebate. To get fees back, you need a separate payout through an affiliate. For example, Fee Otter’s rebate page lists Bybit at 40% (checked 2026-10-11), paid by Fee Otter, not by the exchange or by Kevin Wu.
How to get a rebate on Bybit is covered in Bybit fee rebate: getting fees back with Fee Otter, fee details in Bybit fees, and the rules for adding or switching a code in switching your Bybit referral code. For comparisons with other exchanges, see Binance vs Bybit, OKX vs Bybit and Bybit vs Bitget; other reviews in this series include the Binance review and the OKX review. Each exchange’s actual fees after rebates are in actual fees after referral rebates, and every exchange’s referral code is in the exchange referral code overview.
