ByBit is an extremely popular and reputable crypto trading platform that aims to become one of the leading crypto exchanges in the world. While ByBit is available internationally, many users from the US and several other countries are still in doubt whether ByBit is legal or safe for them. In this article, we analyze the exchange’s conditions to answer the question: is ByBit legal for the US users or not?
ByBit overview
Founded in 2018, ByBit is one of the leading platforms for trading crypto derivatives. The platform’s headquarters are located in Dubai now, but formerly the exchange has been located in Singapore and the British Virgin Islands. Such frequent changes seem to be in the nature of things for major crypto trading platforms, and while ByBit isn’t actually regulated by any official financial authority, the platform is known for its security and generally considered trustworthy.
The exchange allows its users to participate in spot, derivatives, and margins trading. You can choose from about 200 different crypto tokens, from the most popular coins to the most obscure ones. But this extensive choice of trading tools is not the only thing that attracts so many users. ByBit also features very high speed of transactions, a complex system that ensures security of your assets, and a separate marketplace for exchanging NFTs. Basically, it has everything a crypto trader may need.
The minimum deposit is just $1, and the maximum leverage is 1:100. With more than $10 billion in transactions every day, this exchange has very high liquidity. The fees are not too high: you pay 0.05% for each transaction as maker-taker fees and about 0.2% as spot fees. There are no fees for deposits, and depositing fiat is made extremely easy by a special gateway. But be wary of additional fees that ByBit charges for withdrawals.
Legal issues
The exchange may be extremely secure and all-around attractive for traders, but it seems to be restricted in several countries, including the UK, Singapore, Canada, and Iran. Unfortunately, the ByBit USA users are also unable to access the platform, and you have to confirm you reside outside of the US before registering there. The main reason is that ByBit doesn’t comply with the laws of official authorities like SEC.
Some users have learned how to use VPNs to change their IP address and bypass the restriction. However, that is very risky since your funds will be permanently frozen if you’re discovered doing so. So you should probably just look for an alternative instead.