Bybit’s provision of services deemed ‘illegal’, warns French regulator to investors

The French securities regulator, the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), has restated its warning to cryptocurrency investors that Bybit is not authorized to operate in the country. In a notice on May 16, the AMF reminded the public that Bybit is an unregistered crypto platform that is illegally offering digital asset services on behalf of third parties in France. The regulator has the power to block Bybit’s website due to its illegal activities in the country. Bybit has been blacklisted by the AMF since May 2022 for non-compliance with French regulations. Other platforms that have previously made the blacklist include 24cryptoforextrading.net and cryptoneyx.io, while Gemini, Coinbase, and Circle have been approved for registration. Bybit has faced similar warnings from Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission and has exited the Canadian and UK markets in response to regulatory scrutiny. However, the exchange has continued to expand globally, launching a regulated crypto trading platform in the Netherlands and Kazakhstan. Bybit, founded in 2018, is one of the largest crypto exchanges globally, with a reported trading volume of over $71 billion on February 27.