MAS adds one of world’s largest crypto exchanges to list warning investors

[SINGAPORE] Bybit, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, was added to the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) investor alert list on Jun 17, the latest unlicensed exchange to be included.

No reason was specified for the inclusion, although the list warns individuals that firms named are not regulated nor licensed to provide financial services in Singapore.

The cryptocurrency exchange, which according to its website has more than 85 million users and a daily average trading volume surpassing US$20 billion (S$25.8 billion), said in a Jun 18 post on X that it is aware of the listing and is engaging with MAS to understand the reason behind it.

It added that it does not offer services to users in Singapore and has been implementing measures to restrict access to users here, including blocking IP addresses that originate from the Republic.

Co-founded in 2018 by Singapore-based entrepreneur Ben Zhou, also known as Zhou Yuchen, the cryptocurrency exchange is similarly disallowed from offering services in other territories, including Canada, China, Hong Kong and the United States.

The Securities Commission Malaysia had in December 2024 also taken enforcement action against Bybit for illegally operating a digital asset exchange in the country without registration.

Bybit and Zhou – who holds passports from Singapore, Vanuatu and China according to business records – were both included in the commission’s investor alert list in 2021.

They were removed in April 2026 “after constructive engagement and alignment with local regulatory expectations”, Zhou said in an X post then.

The exchange was then directed to disable its website, app and any digital platforms in Malaysia.

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It also had to cease advertising to Malaysian customers, as well as shut down its Telegram support group catering specifically to customers based there.

Zhou, who is chief executive of Bybit, had to ensure that these were carried out.

Registered in the British Virgin Islands, the exchange was initially headquartered in Singapore before moving to Dubai in 2022.

In 2025, it drew international headlines after it was subject to the largest cryptocurrency heist in history when US$1.5 billion in Ethereum was stolen by North Korean hackers in February that year. THE STRAITS TIMES

• Additional reporting by Andrew Wong