Bybit — a review of the crypto exchange, its fees, safety and risks

How Bybit works

Bybit is a centralized exchange (CEX in English), which means one company matches the trades and holds the crypto. Your account shows a balance. The crypto itself sits on the exchange's addresses, its "accounts" on the network. The keys to those addresses, the secret codes that approve transfers, are held by the exchange, so you control your crypto through it. Why the key decides who controls the crypto is explained in the article what is a private key.

How much you can withdraw per day and per month depends on the level of your identity check, known as KYC ("know your customer")².

You can send crypto to another Bybit customer with an internal transfer internal transfer: by account number (UID), email or phone, instantly and with no fee. Such a transfer happens inside the exchange, without the blockchain, like a payment between two accounts at the same bank, and both accounts must have passed the identity check³. To another exchange or to your own wallet, crypto leaves through an ordinary blockchain transfer, recorded in the network's shared record of transfers.

Ordinary money can be paid into Bybit in several ways, and which ones you get depends on your country and currency⁴. One of them is called P2P. It is a deal directly with another person on the exchange's platform, which holds the crypto until payment arrives. You send the seller money to their account, and the seller sends you the crypto.

1. founded in 2018 Bybit (press release, «Bybit Defies Odds: How the Largest Crypto Hack in History Became a Test of Resilience and Transparency» aap.com.au ↩
2. withdrawal limits by verification level Bybit, «How to make a withdrawal from Bybit» bybit.com ↩
3. no fee for crypto deposits and internal transfers Bybit Help Center, «Bybit's Fees That You Need to Know» bybit.com ↩
4. TRC-20, BEP-20 and ERC-20 networks for USDT Bybit, «Buy USDT in Russia with RUB: P2P Guide» bybit.com ↩
5. proof of reserves based on a Merkle tree Bybit Help Center, «How to Verify the Assets in Your Account» bybit.com ↩
6. MiCA license, regulator FMA (Austria) Cointelegraph, «Bybit secures MiCA license, establishes EU HQ in Vienna» cointelegraph.com ↩
7. list of countries where Bybit does not serve customers Bybit Help Center, «Service Restricted Countries» bybit.com ↩

Bybit fees layer by layer

There is no single "Bybit fee". The exchange charges at some steps and not at others. At some points you pay a third-party service or a bank instead.

Steps where you pay a fee on Bybit

On P2P the exchange charges neither the buyer nor the seller, though a bank or payment service may take its own fee⁴. Spot is ordinary buying and selling of crypto at the current price, with no borrowing. The spot rate differs for makers and takers, and people who trade a lot pay less. A taker buys at once at a price already in the list of orders, like a shopper who picks an item off the shelf. A maker places an order of their own and waits for someone to accept it, like a seller who brings goods to market with their own price tag.

For a blockchain withdrawal Bybit charges a fixed amount that depends on the crypto and the network, and the withdrawal form shows it as soon as you choose the network⁵. That is why withdrawing the same USDT costs different amounts on different networks. The rates change.

USDT networks for deposits and withdrawals on Bybit

USDT is a stablecoin from the company Tether, in other words a blockchain-based digital dollar. It exists on several networks. A network is the shared system where transfers are recorded, and each network has its own addresses and its own fee. On Bybit, USDT is available on networks such as Tron, BNB Chain and Ethereum. The form labels them TRC-20, BEP-20 and ERC-20, after the token standard, meaning the set of rules under which the token was issued on that network⁶. Standards are covered in the article token standards. The exchange adds and switches off networks.

To deposit, open Assets → Deposit, choose USDT and the network, and Bybit shows a deposit address deposit address for that particular network. You can deposit only the crypto and only on the network named on the asset's page. For some networks, such as TON, the exchange also gives a memo, an extra recipient number that tells it whose payment this is. A deposit without the memo, or with the wrong one, can end in losing the crypto⁷.

A deposit address is like an apartment number. Many buildings have an apartment with that number, and a parcel with the right number but the wrong building will not reach you. Here the network is the building, so both the address and the network have to match. The guide how to send USDT explains how USDT networks work and which one to pick.

How to withdraw USDT from Bybit without a network mistake

First ask the recipient which network they expect the USDT on and what their address on that network is. A receiving exchange shows both on its deposit page. Then follow these steps⁵:

1. Open Assets → Withdraw and choose USDT.
2. Pick an address from the address book or add a new one.
3. In the network field (Chain Type), choose the same network the recipient named. Bybit immediately shows the fee and the minimum withdrawal for that network.
4. If the recipient gave you a memo, enter it.
5. Enter the amount, tap Confirm, then type the code from the email and the one-time code from Google Authenticator, an app that generates one-time codes.
6. Start with a small test amount and wait until the recipient sees it. Send the rest after that.

If the recipient is also on Bybit, send the USDT by internal transfer to their UID, and you will not need to choose a network.

How to protect withdrawals on Bybit

In Bybit's security settings you can turn on withdrawals by address book only. The withdrawal form then accepts only addresses saved in advance, and switching this mode off takes email confirmation plus a two-factor authentication (2FA) code, that is, a second confirmation of your login. There is also a lock on new addresses. While it is on, you cannot withdraw to an address recently added to the book, whereas addresses that were in the book at least a day before you turned the lock on work as usual. If you turn the lock off, withdrawals stay restricted for another 24 hours⁸. If someone gets into your account, it will be harder for them to move your crypto to their own address right away.

Where Bybit works and where it does not

Bybit keeps a list of countries where it does not serve customers and may add to it. In the version of 16.10.2026 it includes, for example, Canada, the US, Uzbekistan and mainland China ⚖️⁹. Check the list itself to see whether your country is on it.

In the European Economic Area, meaning the EU countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, a separate company, Bybit EU, operates. In May 2025 it received an EU license under the MiCA rules from Austria's regulator (FMA) ⚖️

¹⁰. Bybit EU has rules of its own. According to press reports, since November 2025 it has not opened accounts for Russian citizens, including those with an EU residence permit ⚖️¹¹. Whether you may use a foreign exchange, and how to pay tax on your trades, is decided by the law of the country where you live ⚖️. The guide how to handle crypto taxes walks through the general steps.

Does Bybit work in Latin America?

In the version of Bybit's restricted list dated 16.10.2026, the only Latin American country named is Cuba ⚖️⁹. The rules for exchanges in Argentina and Brazil, and where to check a registration, are on the pages cryptocurrency in Argentina and cryptocurrency in Brazil ⚖️.

Bybit reliability, the 2025 hack and proof of reserves

On 21 February 2025, crypto worth roughly 1.5 billion dollars was stolen from Bybit. The FBI linked the theft to hackers from North Korea¹². The crypto was taken during a routine transfer from the exchange's cold wallet, which is kept offline, to a "warm" one that it uses to pay customers¹³.

Bybit said customer money was fully covered, one to one, and within 12 hours of the hack it processed more than 350,000 withdrawal requests¹⁴. Within a few days the exchange made up the stolen amount with loans and money from partners¹³. What this means for you: while crypto sits on an exchange, its safety depends on the exchange's security and on how the exchange covers a loss. Your own wallet removes that risk, though you then answer for the keys yourself; the guide how to store crypto helps you choose where to keep it.

Bybit regularly publishes proof of reserves proof of reserves, a report on how much crypto the exchange holds compared with what it keeps for customers. Every customer can check that their balance was counted, on the account check page (Verify My Account)¹⁵. The report is built as a long list with subtotals, a structure called a Merkle tree. From your own line and a few subtotals you confirm that you were counted, without seeing anyone else's lines. This check has limits. It confirms only that your balance was included, only for the tokens covered, and an account opened after the check is not in it. The exchange itself publishes the dated reports.

Who Bybit suits and who it does not

Bybit suits people who live in a country the exchange serves and want to buy crypto with money or through P2P, swap one cryptocurrency for another, or send USDT on one of several networks. Bybit also offers perpetual contracts⁴. This is trading on margin, with borrowed money, where people lose what they put in fast, and you do not need it for your first steps.

Bybit will not suit you if you live in a country on the restricted list or want to hold the keys to your crypto yourself. In the second case you need your own wallet, and the article how to choose a crypto wallet helps you pick one. If it matters to you that the exchange is registered with your country's regulator, the government body that licenses financial companies, check its register before you sign up ⚖️. how to choose a crypto exchange helps you compare Bybit with other exchanges on the same points.

More detail on the 2025 hack and Bybit's countries

On 26 February 2025 the FBI named the North Korean group TraderTraitor as the attackers and asked exchanges and other services to block transfers from the addresses used to launder the stolen crypto¹². In about 72 hours Bybit raised roughly 447,000 ETH through emergency loans and large deposits from partners. A reserve check by the firm Hacken afterwards showed the exchange held more of its main assets than customer balances¹³.

The full list of Bybit's restrictions as of 16.10.2026 ⚖️⁹:

• the US and Canada;
• mainland China, Hong Kong and Singapore;
• North Korea, Cuba, Iran, Syria, Sudan and Uzbekistan;
• Crimea and Sevastopol, and the parts of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions outside the control of Ukraine's government.

In August 2024 Bybit announced that it had registered in Argentina with the Financial Information Unit (UIF), the anti-money-laundering agency, as a virtual asset service provider (PSAV) and a card operator ⚖️¹⁶.

Frequently asked questions