The latest Bybit statistics show a venue still rebuilding after the largest crypto-exchange theft on record. Bybit closed Q1 2026 with roughly $1.49 trillion in cumulative derivatives volume and about $186.9 billion in spot volume across the quarter, while its user base passed more than 82 million people across 181 countries and regions by the end of January. Sixteen months earlier, the same exchange watched approximately $1.5 billion of customer Ethereum walk out of a cold wallet in the largest cryptocurrency exchange hack to date. This is what Bybit looks like by the numbers in 2026.
Key Takeaways
- Bybit serves more than 82 million users across 181 countries and ranks as the world’s second-largest centralized crypto exchange by trading volume.
- Bybit logged about $186.9 billion of spot volume and roughly $1.49 trillion of derivatives volume in Q1 2026, third-largest behind Binance and OKX on both surfaces.
- Bybit’s overall Q1 2026 market share was 9.55%, while Gate overtook Bybit as the third-largest derivatives venue at 12.0% in the CCData March 2026 review.
- Bybit’s May 27, 2026 proof-of-reserves report, verified by Hacken, showed reserve ratios of approximately 108% for BTC, approximately 104% for ETH, approximately 106% for USDT, and approximately 164% for USDC, with every key asset above 100%.
- Lazarus Group operatives stole approximately $1.5 billion of ETH from a Bybit cold wallet on February 21, 2025, the largest cryptocurrency exchange hack to date (per the FBI’s TraderTraitor attribution).
- Bybit Earn ended 2025 with $7.1 billion in AUM and generated $110 million in yield, while institutional clients on Bybit’s infrastructure doubled year over year to 2,000+.
Editor’s Choice
- Bybit operates with nearly 2,000 local bank connections and 58+ fiat gateways as of January 29, 2026.
- More than 2.7 million Bybit Cards have been issued worldwide.
- Bybit holds about 16% of XAUT (Tether Gold) spot trading volume as of January 29, 2026.
- Bybit’s average daily open interest in Q1 2026 was approximately $11.0 billion, second only to Binance and a 13.8% share among the top 10 exchanges.
- Bybit was founded in 2018 by Ben Zhou and moved its headquarters from Singapore to Dubai in 2022.
- Bybit was authorised as a crypto-asset service provider under the European Union’s MiCA regulation by the Austrian Financial Market Authority in May 2025.
Bybit Market Share and Ranking
| Exchange | Q1 2026 share (%) |
|---|---|
| Binance | 32.77 |
| OKX | 13.27 |
| Bybit | 9.55 |
| Gate | 8.88 |
| Bitget | 7.70 |
Source: CCData Exchange Review, March 2026
Spot and Derivatives Trading Volume
Recent Developments
- January 29, 2026: Bybit announced its “New Financial Platform” strategy, committing to 500 new trading pairs in Q1 2026 across stocks, CFDs, forex, commodities and indices.
- February 2026: MyBank, Bybit’s new retail banking layer, was targeting a launch, alongside more than 2.7 million Bybit Cards already issued worldwide and 58+ fiat gateways.
- April 10, 2026: CCData’s March 2026 Exchange Review confirmed Gate had overtaken Bybit on derivatives for the first time at 12.0% share.
- June 9, 2026: Bybit published a Hacken-verified proof-of-reserves snapshot dated May 27, 2026, showing $16.5 billion in mainstream assets and reserve ratios above 100% on every key asset.
Bybit Statistics: Users and Geographic Footprint
Bybit’s user count, institutional book, and country footprint move on different curves; the retail surface keeps expanding while the country list where it can legally service customers narrows.
- More than 82 million users across 181 countries and regions as of the January 29, 2026 platform announcement.
- An earlier press release marked the 70 million user milestone, recapping Bybit’s regulatory expansion across Dubai (2023), the EEA (2025 MiCAR license covering 29 member states), and Indian FIU registration.
- Founded in 2018 by Ben Zhou; relocated global headquarters from Singapore to Dubai in 2022.
- Blocked from operating in the United States as of 2026, and faces warnings or restrictions in multiple jurisdictions; in October 2024 the exchange settled an FTX-related lawsuit by paying $228 million.
- Institutional cohort doubled year over year to more than 2,000 clients, and Bybit Earn closed 2025 at $7.1 billion in AUM with $110 million in yield generated for users.
- ByCustody managed more than $5 billion across more than 30 professional asset managers as of January 29, 2026.
Why it matters: The most demanding retail-conduct regimes (United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Singapore, mainland China) are exactly where Bybit does not service customers, which is what bounds an 82 million user count rather than a much larger one.
Institutional flow does not appear in retail user counts but explains why open interest stays elevated as spot volumes compress.
Proof of Reserves Snapshot
| Asset | User assets | Bybit holdings | Reserve ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| BTC | 44,736 | 48,582 | 108% |
| ETH | 552,540 | 579,288 | 104% |
| USDT (millions) | 5,550 | 5,890 | 106% |
| USDC (millions) | 563.7 | 925.5 | 164% |
Source:Bybit Proof-of-Reserves report, May 27, 2026 (verified by Hacken)
The February 2025 Hack: Scale and Recovery
Bybit’s hack did not exploit a smart-contract bug or a key-management lapse on Bybit’s side; it exploited a UI-spoofing compromise on a third-party multisig signing tool. Even a fully reserved exchange cannot protect customers from social-engineering attacks against external infrastructure providers.
Regulatory Map: MiCA, Asia and the United States
Bybit’s regulatory footprint reads cleanest as a layered map: a Dubai home base, a passporting wedge into the EEA, partial coverage across Asia, and explicit blocks on the largest English-speaking retail markets.
- May 2025: Bybit was authorised as a crypto-asset service provider under the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation by the Austrian Financial Market Authority, following the company’s 2022 relocation from Singapore to Dubai.
- Bybit’s broader regulatory map covers the Dubai headquarters established in 2023, the MiCAR license covering 29 European Economic Area member states from 2025, and India Financial Intelligence Unit registration.
- Bybit is blocked from operating in the United States as of 2026, facing warnings or restrictions in multiple jurisdictions.
An exchange forced to passport spot-only into Europe while carrying its derivatives book under non-EU entities runs a structurally lower-margin EU business than its consolidated numbers suggest. The same pressures appear across EU’s MiCA regulations for the wider sector.
Beyond the Exchange: TradFi, MyBank and Institutional AUM
| Metric | Figure | As of |
|---|---|---|
| Local bank connections | nearly 2,000 | Jan 29, 2026 |
| Fiat gateways | 58+ | Jan 29, 2026 |
| Bybit Cards issued | 2.7 million | Jan 29, 2026 |
| P2P merchants | 200,000+ | Jan 29, 2026 |
| Bybit Earn AUM | $7.1 billion | Year-end 2025 |
| ByCustody AUM | $5 billion+ | Jan 29, 2026 |
| Institutional clients | 2,000+ | Jan 29, 2026 |
Source:Bybit press release, January 29, 2026
How Bybit Compares to Binance, OKX and Gate
By the numbers: Bybit sat at 9.55% of Q1 2026 spot share and 10.31% of derivatives share, against Binance’s 32.77% / 33.27% and OKX’s 13.27% / 15.11%, with Gate overtaking Bybit at 12.0% derivatives share in March 2026.
| Exchange | Q1 2026 spot share | Q1 2026 derivatives share | March 2026 derivatives share | Q1 2026 derivatives volume |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Binance | 32.77% | 33.27% | leader | $4.90 trillion |
| OKX | 13.27% | 15.11% | 2nd | $2.19 trillion |
| Bybit | 9.55% | 10.31% | overtaken by Gate | $1.49 trillion |
| Gate | 8.88% | not specified | 12.0% (3rd) | $1.18 trillion |
| Bitget | 7.70% | not specified | not specified | $1.02 trillion |
Source:CCData Exchange Review March 2026; CoinGlass Q1 2026 Market Share Report
Why open interest beats volume share here: Bybit’s #2 open-interest position despite a #3 derivatives volume share suggests its derivatives book skews to larger, longer-held positions than venues like Gate or Bitget.
Conclusion
The largest exchange hack on record in February 2025, and a proof-of-reserves snapshot 15 months later showing every key asset above 100% backing. In between, the exchange grew to more than 82 million users across 181 countries, secured a MiCAR license covering 29 European Economic Area countries, posted approximately $1.49 trillion in Q1 2026 derivatives volume, and watched Gate overtake it on derivatives share for the first time at 12.0% in the March 2026 review.
Q1 2026 spot volumes across the top 10 fell 39.1% to $2.7 trillion, with every top-10 exchange declining inside a band of -23% to -55%. The next 12 months will turn on whether the banking-rail and institutional-custody numbers grow as fast as the press release promises.
